To Trust Again
by dark.angel.261
Summary: Team 7 finally gets reinstated, but are they really a "team" anymore?
1. Chapter 1

.:To Trust Again:.

Chapter One

* * *

><p>Kakashi was irritated. Exceedingly irritated. Because Kakashi didn't get pissed. No, Kakashi got <em>irritated. <em>And he had good reason for his _irritation. _

The three in front of him walked stiffly, hands either clenched or shoved deeply into their pockets because they, unlike their Sensei, were indeed _pissed. _Sweat and grime, which had long since dried on the livid shinobi, created a sticky sort of goo that seemed to engulf them silence that surrounded them was so far past "palpable" that it was nearly gelatinous and their roiling waves of chakra were enough to frighten shinobi and civilian alike from crossing paths with their dysfunctional little "team," if they really could be called that anymore. Kakashi sighed.

Even after finally, _finally _getting the clearance to reinstate the infamous Team Seven, they still couldn't _work_ like a team. Their latest mission was a testament to this. A simple recovery mission with a scroll in a distant village they had to nab and return. A _B-_ranked mission at best. But their inability to work together almost caused them to, not only lose the scroll, but almost their lives because of a general lack of communication and stupid, _stupid_ mistakes. It had been far too long since any of them had worked as a team. Years of solo missions made them edgy, and while edgy was good, their trigger-finger reflexes toward anything that moved, was not. But it wasn't just that. There was hardly any trust between them now.

It was then that Kakashi made one of his snap decision. One that, in all honestly, probably wouldn't work but, by god, he would _make _it work.

He turned left.

Momentarily distracted from their foul moods, the other three shinobi followed his lead with few confused grumbles.

So he turned left again.

This time he was met with more confusion and more grumbles.

So he turned right, just to mix things up.

The exhausted shinobi behind him groaned as their sensei led them to some unknown destination.

* * *

><p>The unknown destination turned out to be their old training grounds. By the time they arrived Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were simply glowering at all which surrounded them. Kakashi, however, had amused himself with their confusion and was in a significantly better mood, but there was business to be done.<p>

"It has become apparent to me that you three do not trust each other as much as you should." he started and held up a hand to halt the indignant onslaught of rebuts coming from the blonde. "You do not trust each other enough to watch over your backs, leaving you distracted. That distraction could cost you vital seconds in a mission." He glanced at the disgruntled faces of his students as Sakura crossed her arms and Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets whereas Naruto was simply fuming. They looked filthy, exhausted, and, from what Kakashi could hear of their stomachs, hungry. "So we're going to have a little team activity!"

A delightful chorus of groans met his ears.

"Kaka-sensei, can't we do this tomorrow?" Suggested a forced-hopeful pinkette, teeth grit behind her dry, chapped lips. Her bagged green eyes pleaded the man in front of her to be merciful.

"No," he said simply. Sakura deflated at his cheery smile.

"What's this _team activity_ then?" Sasuke ground out and Kakashi's jovial grin was redirected to him.

"Instead of telling you, lets have a demonstration!" Pretending not to notice the increased slump to their shoulders, he scanned over the three of them. His eyes landed on the two with the highest probably success rate. "Naruto, Sakura, come over here."

Both of their shoulders tensed as they exchanged guarded glances and shuffled towards their sensei. Kakashi grabbed both of their shoulders and pulled them in so that they were only about three feet away from each other and spun Sakura so that she was facing away from Naruto. He stepped away.

"Now, Sakura, you will fall. Naruto, you will catch her."

His students gave him dubious looks.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Sakura nearly screeched, throwing her aching arms into the air. "A _trust fall? This _is your brilliant plan?"

"Come on, Kaka-sensei! Lets go eat!" Naruto hollered. A few yards away Sasuke turned to leave only to be stopped by the very man who was keeping them captive in that desolate, humiliating, infuriating, nauseating, little piece of _hell. _

"This is a team building exercise!" Kakashi ground out as he appeared in front of the exaggerative Uchiha. "You three need to rebuild your trust for each other and this is how we're going to do it, understood?"

He was met with grumbled affirmatives as all of his little students returned to their original positions. There was only a brief moment when Kakashi had to remind himself that, despite how they acted, they were no longer his _little _students. In fact, Sasuke and Naruto were now near the same height as him and all three of their names were both feared and respected across the map. He sighed. _'I'm really getting old.'_

"Now, Sakura, cross you arms over your chest and fall back." he commanded, turning from the dark-haired wonder to his "examples."

With a sigh, Sakura did as instructed and felt only a slight twinge of vertigo before Naruto's warm and sturdy arms grasped her by the elbows and halted her descent. Both turned to their sensei with raised eyebrows as if to say _'And the point of that was…..?' _

Kakashi smirked at them under his mask. "Very good, but there was a reason I chose the two of you for the example; you've been working together for years and have developed a strong trust in each other. Sasuke, however, has only returned to the leaf a couple years ago and has only started working with us a few months ago when his parole was lifted. While the trust between the pair of you is strong, as a team your lack of trust in Sasuke makes you weak."

The once-avenger grit his teeth whereas Naruto half exploded with rage.

"Oi, oi oi!" he roared. "I do too trust the teme! I'd trust him with my life!"

"Then prove it," Kakashi challenged, sending the blonde a pointed look. Naruto harrumphed and moved towards his raven-haired teammate, promptly turning his back on him and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Catch me, teme," he growled before falling back. Sasuke's hands deftly captured the loud one and pushed him back into a standing position, looking as if murder was on his mind.

"Ah, but does he trust you?" Kakashi's visible eye crinkled in amusement as Naruto spun around and commanded the homicidally-induced one to do the same. The scowl that crossed his face had even Sakura barely holding back her sniggers. Finally the blonde managed to convince him to commence the trust fall so he closed his eyes, fell back, and waited for it to be over.

Naruto caught him in a rather heroic fashion with one arm around the once-avenger's waist and the other producing a dandelion which had been swiftly uprooted during his teammate's fall. He was then promptly punched in the face.

Kakashi applauded their performance as Sakura collapsed in on herself in hysterics.

"Wonderful, wonderful," he praised before calling together the final pair. "Sasuke, your turn to catch Sakura."

Sasuke's eyebrow ceased its violent twitching which had been the result of the blonde's antics and turned his eyes from his clenched fist to his pink-haired teammate who was still trying to calm herself and wipe the tears of mirth from her face. He approached her as she pulled herself together and stood. They then proceeded to stand in front of each other awkwardly for several seconds.

"Sakura, you have to turn around." Kakashi reminded.

So she did. She turned and crossed her arms over her chest, feeling much more tense than what she had with Naruto. Her heart pounded against her ribs and her palms felt slick and sweaty.

"Ready?" her voice was much quieter than she expected it to be.

"Aa,"

She pushed herself back, her fingernails dug painful crescents into her arms and her eyes scrunched shut. She thought she could do it, she really did, but as soon as the wind began to rush past her ears the haunting chirping of a Chidori permeated her memories. Panic burst through her chest and froze her heart as she remembered the look on his face back then, cold and indifferent on a whole new level as his arm glowed and crackled and sizzled and aimed at her.

_Chichichichi_

Sakura put her foot back and stopped herself from falling and sprung away. Her breath came in heavy pants and her arms were held in front of her defensively as her bottle green eyes seemed to be seeing into a different time.

Silence fell like a heavy cloud over the training ground. Sasuke stiffly lowered his arms, which had been raised in order to catch his falling comrade. His shoulders tensed and his face was wiped blank, emotions retreating to the recesses of his mind for protection.

Naruto could only stare at the woman who was like a sister to him as she snapped back into reality, guarded eyes suddenly appearing fragile and vulnerable. "Sakura-chan?"

"I-I'm sorry," she choked, lowering her defensive stance. Her eyes slowly made their way to the impenetrable face of the stoic Uchiha. "Sasuke-kun, I'm so sorry." she whispered.

Kakashi cleared his throat, slicing through the silence like a blade. "This is what I was talking about."

Sakura's head lowered in shame.

"I'm sorry,"

"But-but, does the teme trust Sakura-chan?" Naruto supplied hopefully.

"Real trust is a two-way thing, Naruto. If she doesn't trust him, then he can't trust her completely."

"I'm sorry,"

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan, you just have to learn to trust each other again." Kakashi said soothingly. "We'll meet at the bridge tomorrow morning. I'm going ahead to Hokage tower to give the mission report. You're all dismissed."

With that he poofed out of existence. Naruto immediately rushed in to Sakura, grasping her by the arms as tears began to slide down her face, hidden by a curtain of pink. Sasuke turned away and began walking to his apartment, hands buried deep in his pockets as an overwhelming sense of emptiness blossomed in his chest.

* * *

><p>She was late. Even Kakashi had arrived on time but Sakura remained AWOL. An overpowering sense of irritation settled over the three males of team seven. Naruto's foot tapped spastically against the wooden panels at the floor of the bridge whereas Sasuke's growing headache seemed to worsen in time with each of those infuriating taps. Kakashi's arms were crossed in front of his chest and his lone eye remained closed in attempt to put a barrier between himself and his <em>adorable <em>little students.

After almost an hour of waiting the sound of hurried footsteps alerted them to her arrival. She skidded to a halt in front of them and bent over, hands resting on her knees as she attempted to catch her breath.

"You're _late!"_ shouted the blonde, pointing an accusatory finger at her hunched over form.

"Sorry," she panted. "Emergency…at the hospital…surgery…2am… success." She attempted a weary smile at them as her shoulders moved in time with her pants. Her eyes looked bleary and the bags under them had only grew since the previous day.

"Sakura," Kakashi admonished. "We met here to train as a _team_. We can't do that if one of our members are missing, especially the one who really needed the help."

A look of absolute fury crossed her features as she ceased her panting. When she looked up her eyes were sharp as daggers.

"Kakashi-sensei, there are approximately 11,469 people in Konohagakure. Of those people, approximately 57.8% are shinobi. Every day at the hospital we have around 170 new inpatients, 15.2% of them in critical condition. Now, we have about five medics, including myself, Tsunade, and Shizune, who are capable of handling the critical patients whereas the rest are forced to deal with the various other ailments which shinobi and citizens alike bring through our doors. _Every day _I perform at least five different life-or-death surgeries and then spend whatever time I have left in our severely understaffed clinic where I diagnose countless illnesses and heal a myriad of superficial cuts and bruises from _who knows how many_ shinobi and citizens who always find _some way_ to hurt themselves. Please, _excuse me_ if I show up a little late to whatever _team-building exercise _you have planned for us today." she snapped.

Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto stood, frozen in place from either shock or terror at their kunoichi's outburst. Her glare could burn holes through their faces and into the bridge, catching it on fire and burning them alive in a powerful inferno which would soon reach the surrounding forestry and cause a disaster of epic proportions.

Sakura's shoulders relaxed as she let out a laugh of relief. "Oh man, I really needed to do that." she smiled sheepishly at her terrorized teammates. "We're really understaffed over there and I ended up getting called in to perform an emergency surgery at, like, 2am this morning, so I was a little on edge. But I feel better now!" She smiled, purposefully leaving out the part about the second surgery. It was a civilian, surprisingly, who was rebuilding his shop and fell off the rood and onto a rotting plank of wood which had been removed earlier along with countless others which were in a pile down below. The plank happened to have been leaning against the pile and had been vertical and the man fell on it just right so that it had impaled him through his abdomen. It didn't help that the wood had been splintering and that several rusting nails had been left inside. She herself had been impaled before in the battle with Sasori and even she had nothing on this guy. The surgery itself took several hours and consisted of re-creating a kidney, spleen, and several sections of the small and large intestines as well as all of the destroyed tissue that the plank had left in its midst. It was a miracle the man hadn't died of shock or blood loss. In fact, it was a miracle the man pulled through at all. Unfortunately for Sakura, though, that particular endeavor left her dangerously low on chakra. Technically, she was supposed to be at home, recovering in case there was another emergency. But they didn't need to know that.

"Ah," Kakashi attempted to respond but fell short. Naruto and Sasuke stared at her as if she were an alien, the complete 180 mood-swing weighing heavily on their mind as images of her shattering the earth with a tap of her toe danced through their mind. Sakura was a truly terrifying woman. "Well, I was thinking that today we would spar, but in pairs. Me and Naruto will work together so that you and Sasuke can get more used to working together as a team."

"Hai!" she said cheerily while inside she groaned at the idea of attempting to use up even more of her horrendously depleted supply of chakra. With any luck she would be able to make it through the spar by controlling the exact amount of chakra she used so that absolutely none was wasted. She _really _wished she had had time to stop somewhere and purchase some soldier pills.

Naruto shook off his frightened stupor and stepped towards their sensei while Sasuke and Sakura walked towards each other, meeting half way. Naruto and Kakashi shared a glance, before Kakashi called out "Begin!"

They disappeared, leaving Sasuke and Sakura on guard. Sakura's hand made its way to her shuriken pouch and Sasuke grasped the hilt of his Kusanagi. Both were completely silent, listening for any faint rustle or crunching leaves. Sakura closed her eyes in concentration, only to have it broken by Sasuke's barely audible "Thirty meters ahead at two o'clock," before he disappeared in that direction. She bolted after him.

They reached the edge of the forest before they were rained on by a barrage of senbon and shuriken, all of which were swiftly dodged by the pair before they started in the direction of which they had been thrown. Almost immediately they were met by an army of Narutos, each shouting one thing or another. Sakura inwardly groaned, this could take a lot of chakra.

Sasuke unsheathed his Kusanagi, setting to work on the surrounding clones as they poofed out of existence one by one. Sakura pulled out a kunai and began slashing away at the approaching clones. One got close enough to attempt a blow to her face which she promptly dodged before hitting it with a non-chakra laden fist. It still poofed, but it wasn't quite as satisfying.

"Sakura!"

She turned around just in time to see Sasuke slashing away at a Kakashi clone who had been poised behind her, kunai in hand.

"Thanks," she managed before blocking a well-placed kick to her ribs. She delivered a kick of her own to his head and then met her next opponent. This one had a kunai in hand and managed to get a small slice in her arm as she punched him out of existence as well. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a blotch of gray amidst the sea of orange.

"Sasuke-kun, to your left!"

He snapped his wrist so that the blade sliced through the second Kaka-clone who had snuck up on him. Sakura returned to her own work, destroying the entire front line with a round-house kick, effectively causing a smoke screen from the disappearance of several clones at once. Naruto used this to his advantage and managed to land a hit on her gut, ceasing her movements for a moment and allowing him another hit, this time to her face. She growled in frustration and decided that using a _little_ chakra couldn't hurt too much.

She punched the ground, shattering it beautifully and causing a mass explosion of Narutos. Sasuke managed to make quick work of the few remaining before they were alone once more. Sakura took a quick look at him, noting that he had sustained a few shallow cuts to his arm but that was about the extent of it.

"Do you sense them?" he asked in a low voice that made her spine tingle. She shook her head in a negative. He let out a breath and re-sheathed his Kusanagi. "We need a plan."

Sakura tried to remember back to the second bell test, where she and Naruto had discovered Kakashi's weakness. Unfortunately, now Kakashi was privy to _that _particular trick and Naruto was the key component, being the one who traveled with the pervy Sannin. She sighed, really wishing she had the blonde's creativity at that particular moment. Before she could travel much farther on that train of thought, Sasuke's voice snapped her out of it.

"I could locate them with my Sharingan and leave a clone with you then put them in a Genjutsu and you could destroy the clones like you did before." he suggested, referring to the earth-crumbling-chakra-infused punch. The very punch which drained her chakra to the point of near complete exhaustion. She only had enough to leave her standing, end even now her legs felt wobbly. She supposed the truth had to come out eventually.

"Um, I can't do that," she said, scratching her cheek sheepishly with a gloved finger. He gave her an inquisitive look. "I'm a little low on chakra."

His look turned to confusion and she felt his chakra probe around though hers, realizing that, yes, she was out.

"It really took _that _much chakra?"

She gave an awkward cough and explained the second surgery to which he responded with a look of incredulity. Slowly, the look slipped off his face as he began to realize where this left them.

"Annoying," He sighed, palm meeting face. "Is there anything you _can_ do?"

Rage ate its way out of her gut and her leather gloves creaked against themselves as her hands automatically shot out and grasped the Uchiha by the collar and pulled his face close to hers. Sure, she could take the _'Annoying' _comment but calling her _useless?_ No, she had come way too far for _that _again.

"Listen, _Uchiha,"_ she ground out in a low tone, her warm breath fanned against his face and he detected the clinging scent of antiseptics. "I am _not _some helpless little girl anymore. I can easily hold my own against just about anyone and I refuse to be treated like some sort of damsel by someone like _you."_

"Someone like me?" he asked indignantly.

"Yes, someone like _you."_

"And what do you mean by _that?"_

At that, her glare intensified ten-fold, her sea-foam eyes darkened to daggers of emerald.

"I mean someone who abandoned their friends, their country, a country which your brother gave up _everything_ to protect, and then returned only to attempt to destroy everything and everyone. You tried to kill Naruto. You tried to kill _me."_

"Oh, and you're _completely _innocent." he mocked. "You are such a hypocritical _bitch! _You went there with all intents and purposes to kill _me, _only you didn't want to taint your _spotless_ medic reputation and, low and behold, you were rescued by Kakashi." Her face was now flushed and she was entirely furious. Somewhere in the back of her mind, though, she registered this as the longest conversation she had ever held with the Uchiha. Her mouth opened to retort but Sasuke cut her off before she could and grabbed her by the collar as well. "And you have _no right _to go around on your high horse, acting like you're _so _much better than I am. If I remember correctly, you were _more_ that willing to follow me to Oto and betray your _friends _and your _village."_

"And then you left me on a stone bench in the middle of the night." she spat.

"If I didn't you would have followed me or gone off and blabbed to the Hokage because I wasn't stopped by your pathetic _love_ confess-"

The resounding _slap _of skin against skin echoed through the trees. His face was turned away from the force of the slap and his grip on her shirt fell limp. Shakily, she stepped away as he slowly turned his head back to face her, an angry red welt smeared across his face. She turned and began to leave.

"Are you going to run away?" his voice cut through the silence. She stopped, shoulders tensed and head bowed. Her trembling hands clenched her medic skirt, crumpling the pink fabric. Never before had Sasuke seen someone look so furious and fragile. He speculated that behind that short curtain of pink hair she hid tears.

"Saku-"

"Sakura-sempai!"

Both of them tensed up. The crunching of dried leaves and twigs alerted them to the approaching presence of another, far too loud and clumsy to be that of a trained shinobi.

"Sakura-sempai, there's an emergency at the hospital!" a breathless nurse emerged from the trees, breathing heavily. Her chestnut hair was pulled back into a bun and she looked to be around the same age as the pinkette. "An entire team came in! The others are already at work but the last patient is being prepped. We really _need you_!"

For a moment Sakura didn't turn. Her gloved palms brushed against her eyes for only a moment before she finally turned. There was no sign at all that she had been crying, or angry, or in any form of emotional turmoil for that matter. Her eyes were clear and determined as her hands made their way to the back of her head, restraining her pink tresses with the rubber band on her wrist.

"Megumi-chan," she began walking to the nurse, breezing past Sasuke. It wasn't done in a self-important manner. Sakura was in medic mode now, not in a fight. "Please fill me in on the details, I need to pick up some soldier pills before I can do anything."

And with that they were gone.

Sasuke stuffed his hands into his pockets and stalked off in search of Naruto and Kakashi.

* * *

><p>Woo! Where there's the first thing, now onto annother thing which may or may not turn out to be the second thing! Yay. But sorry if this is a little shaky, my computer decided to die the other day and deleted half of this so I had to re-write it and I need <strong>YOUR OPINION<strong> on wether or not its any good, so please, by all means, review!

Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

.:To Trust Again:.

Chapter Two

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><p>Sakura sighed, debating whether or not she could slip out the back door and avoid him but decided against it. It was bound to happen eventually. She pushed against the glass doors and stepped into the crisp evening air.<p>

"Sakura-chan," Naruto greeted her where he stood, leaning against the painted stone walls of the hospital.

"Naruto-kun," she nodded to him and began to walk in the direction of her home, knowing he would follow.

And he did, hands shoved deeply into his orange pockets. He took his place on her right and they walked in silence for a time, absorbing the peace of the night.

"You left training early," his voice was low, a rarity for the blonde. She shot him a weary glance.

"There was an emergency," hard green eyes stared off into the distance, refusing to meet his true-blue ones. "An entire team came in in shambles. Their conditions have only just stabilized."

He scanned her over; the shadows and bags under her exhausted green eyes, the defeated slump to her shoulders, and the scraping of her toes against the dirt road as her weary legs could only lift them so high, leaving shallow trenches in their midst. She was pale and fatigued and he hated seeing her like this.

He stopped her for a moment and kneeled down in front of her. She hesitated before reaching her arms around his neck as he grasped her thighs and hoisted her up. He resumed their previous path to her house and she snuggled into his warm, muscled back. It was just like the old days, before the war when there was only three medics and she was forced to work from dawn to dusk, and dusk to dawn. Every night, he would wait for her shift to end and would walk her home, supporting her if she was too exhausted to make it back on her own. He swore that it was because _'you never know just what kind of perverts can be lurking in the night!' _but she suspected that he just didn't want to lose _everyone _on team seven. She missed those days, when bringing Sasuke home was their only goal. When things were simple and straightforward and not a tangled mess.

"How many surgeries did you perform today?" he asked quietly, so as to not disturb their serene surroundings. A gentle wind mused their hair, tangling pink and blonde.

"Seven," she murmured into his back, sending vibrations from the sound down his spine. He tightened his grip on her.

"They're killing you over there." he muttered to which she shook her head.

"Its all worth it," she whispered. "It will always be worth it."

He let out a breath. They walked in silence past Ichiraku Ramen and the Ancient Weaponry shop, both closed for the night.

"You remember what today is?" They rounded past the Academy grounds, now deserted. The swing tied to the tree in front swayed in the mellow breeze, abandoned.

"Mmh," she nodded into his back. "it's the anniversary of the day we originally became team seven, when Iruka first assigned us. And the anniversary of your first _kiss_."

"That didn't count!" he grumbled to which she giggled. He sighed and glanced to the indigo sky. "Its already been six years."

"Yeah," she craned her neck to rest her chin on his shoulder and her warm breath fanned against the sensitive skin of his neck. His ears grew warm. "and we're all back together again."

"Mmh," his eyes searched the sky for stars before he took a breath. "You and Sasuke, you guys really don't trust each other anymore?"

The arms around his neck stiffened for a moment before they relaxed again.

"Too much has happened since we were kids." she sighed.

"When we brought him back, I knew things were going to be different. Just, not like this."

"Do you think," she hesitated. "Do you think we'll ever really be a team again?"

He was silent and, for a moment, she wasn't sure if he was going to answer,

"We will," he said, determination weaving its way into his voice. "It will take time, but we will."

They reached her house and Naruto kneeled down by the door so she could slide off. All of the lights were off, her civilian parents having gone to bed several hours ago, leaving the house looking dark and empty.

"Naruto," she whispered. He turned to face her and she pulled him into a hug. "Thank you."

He stiffened before giving her a tight squeeze in return. When they broke apart his cheeks were dusted with a blush but his grin still shone past it. He was still in love with her, she knew, and it would be so much simpler if she could reciprocate those feelings but her heart wouldn't let her. She left him with a final smile and twisted the lock in place, just like her mother had always reminded her to do.

* * *

><p>Naruto was nervous. Sweating bullets, really, because they <em>wouldn't talk to each other. <em>And not just that, they wouldn't look at each other, acknowledge the others presence, anything! Sasuke had been here before him and when Sakura arrived she only greeted Naruto. Not that he would mind, usually. But this wasn't usually. This was a '_I refuse to talk to you,' _type of thing, only with a bit more was leaning against one side of the bridge and Sakura was leaning against the other side of the bridge, and he didn't know who's side he was supposed to lean on. So he plopped down right in the middle and waited.

And waited.

And waited, but with added hostility.

And waited some more, until, thank _God, _a familiar '_poof_ ' interrupted their lovely bonding moments.

Kakashi looked between the three, noting the tension, and turned to Sakura.

"You're on time today," Kakashi glanced at his frustrated students.

"Wish I could say the same for you," she shot back.

"Ah, touché." He looked at his trio of not-really-youngsters and sighed. There was a _lot _of work to be done. "Are you going to stay until the end this time?"

"If there's not an emergency," her eyes darkened with mental guards but Kakashi just waved it off.

"I'm just kidding, Sakura-chan! I know how busy you are at the hospital nowadays. You made that quite clear yesterday." he added as a side note, causing the medic to blush.

"Sorry about that," she laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. "I didn't get much sleep that night." To this both Naruto and Sasuke made scoffing noises, knowing full well that by "not much" she meant "about five minutes." She glared at them.

Kakashi glanced between the three, amusement creeping into his voice as he drawled out a simple "Okay," and proceeded to forgive the kunoichi for her earlier moodiness. Satisfied that the morning pleasantries had concluded, Kakashi clapped his hands together to gather their attention.

"So, since yesterday didn't work out to well," Sasuke and Sakura refused to meet each others eyes. "instead, we will be teaching each other."

"EHHH?" Sakura and Naruto hollered.

"Well, more specifically Sasuke and Sakura will be teaching each other while I will be teaching you a new justu, Naruto."

"Yatta!" '_Anything to get away from those two.'_

"B-but, Kaka-sensei," Sakura sputtered, still refusing to meet the Uchiha's eyes. "What are we supposed to teach each other?"

Kakashi looked as if he was pondering this for a moment, hand stroking his masked chin and she thought '_Hey, maybe he has a goatee under there.'_ before returning her thoughts to the matter at hand. Sure, she knew that she and Sasuke we're going to have to interact _eventually,_ but this soon?

"If I remember correctly," he began, hand dropping to his pouch which held his infamous _Icha Icha _books. "you had a particular affinity for Genjutsu. We just never got around to developing that skill."

It was true, she supposed. He had mentioned that way back in their genin days, but he had become far too preoccupied with Naruto and Sasuke's training to ever get to her. By the time both of them had left the village in their own searches for power and he had had the time for _her_, she had already taken up tutelage under Tsunade. Her natural skills with Genjutsu were severely overshadowed by her gift with chakra control and medical jutsu and never developed.

"And Sasuke," Kakashi turned to him. "your chakra control is tolerable at best. Sakura can help you improve on your chakra control and maybe teach you some medical jutsu, and you can help her improve skills in Genjutsu."

Neither of them spoke, so he took that as a sign of agreement and motioned for Naruto to come with him, leaving the two of them to their training. If anything could get them to trust each other, it would be to share their knowledge in jutsu to the other.

Alone, Sasuke and Sakura were caught up in a sticky, awkward mixture of tension, unease, and hollowed out anger. Neither wanted to make the first move, the first noise, and both just wanted today to be over with but Sakura very well knew that she couldn't walk out today too. Sasuke just didn't want to admit defeat.

Several minutes were spent like this, an indirect and unspoken battle of wills, until Sakura finally sighed and broke through the barrier they had created.

"Lets get to it, then." and she began to walk off of the bridge to where she knew of an open training ground, Sasuke following close behind with his hands stuffed deep into his pockets. They walked in a murky silence and it was beginning to get to Sakura, only she didn't know how to fix it. Sasuke didn't really care to.

Sakura cleared her throat.

"I'm going to just assume that you've got the basics of chakra control and that you can walk up trees and on water," Sakura began, hoping to rouse some form of response out of the stoic one, but was met with no luck. Out of all honesty, she _really _didn't want to talk to him either, but Kakashi had given them an assignment and she'd be _damned _if she couldn't complete it. "The amount of chakra you have makes it less necessary to control and your specialty Justus are a testament to this."

He scoffed.

'_Finally, a remark! Kind of, at least.'_

"No, really," she remarked. "Most of your Justus involve a build-up of chakra, ending in a quick and powerful release. There really isn't a limit to how much chakra you put into it, only that the more you put in, the stronger it'll be. If I were to take a guess, I would have to say that you probably fail miserably at any justu which requires intricate chakra control."

He glared and harrumphed and crossed his arms, acting every bit like the grumpy teen who's "weakness" has been revealed but is desperate to prove that he has no such disability. She smirked at him.

"What, you think you can?" she taunted, expecting him to rise to the challenge.

He didn't disappoint.

"Hn,"

Well, he sort of disappointed, but it was better than nothing.

"How about this," she challenged, stopping and turning to him. "We'll just do an accuracy test." She stepped away from him and made her way to a near by tree, digging a small circle into it's rough bark, no bigger than her thumb nail. "From where you are right now, burn only the circle that I've drawn onto this tree."

He scoffed and she moved from the tree, motioning him to begin.

And he did, executing the seals swiftly and precisely. When he blew out his Katon, it was only a small, steady stream. It hit its mark for a few seconds before Sasuke ceased the stream and stuffed his hands back into his pockets, looking to be the definition of arrogant. She studied his handiwork.

He had indeed hit the mark, but the burn marks bled out of the little circle she had made. She shook her head and his brow furrowed.

"Look, you're outside of the lines."

"Hardly,"

"If this were a medical jutsu, _hardly_ would cut through the wall of your femoral artery. _Hardly _would put clots in all of your other veins and arteries as you try to fix your femoral artery. _Hardly _could easily be the difference between making an incision and bleeding to death." she informed him.

"This isn't medical jutsu."

She shook her head. "The point is that, by my stand point at least, your chakra control is relatively inadequate."

"And you could do that?" he challenged. _'Well, someone's ruffled your feathers.' _she mentally applauded herself.

"I'm a close range fighter and I don't know fire jutsu." she waved her hand about as she decided to continue walking. He paused a moment before following her example, sulking all the way. As they continued on Sakura's mind began to race on just how she would teach him to better control his chakra, or at least she tried to. Her mind felt sluggish and fuzzy, like something was interfering.

The reason for her predicament hit her along with a burning flash of rage.

"Kai!"

They were back by the tree, though it would be more fitting to say that they never left.

Sakura whipped her head around, splaying her pink hair out around her, and she found the Uchiha leaning against that damn tree with his failure of a burn mark, Sharingan activated and a stupid, _stupid _goddamn smirk on his face.

"Six seconds," he stared at her smugly. "You know six seconds could kill you in a battle?"

"Shut up, Uchiha."

And with that they began walking, for real this time, towards the open training grounds, albeit with added hostility. They were back to refusing to talk or look at each other and this time Sakura _refused _to be the one to break it. She walked stiffly and he walked smugly and it annoyed her to no end. Before she had arrived at the bridge earlier that morning, she felt stubborn but guilty and debated apologizing for slapping him. But not anymore, not when he was being such an ass.

They reached the training ground in silence, agonizing silence, and then proceeded to play the waiting game. Who would say the first word? Not her, that's for sure.

He cleared his throat.

She scuffed her shoes in the grass, feeling the individual blades tickle her exposed toes.

He glared at a tree.

She stared at the sky.

"We're here,"

"Yeah," she figured she'd give him a taste of his own medicine.

He was practically burning a hole in that poor tree.

She rocked on her heels, feeling almost giddy. _'Take that bastard!'_

He sighed. "And I'm going to teach you how to perform Genjutsu?"

"Or I'm going to teach you how to control your chakra." Oh, she'd seen what he'd done there, leaving out that he needed help too.

"Annoying,"

"Hm?" she ceased her rocking and glanced at him.

"Do you know any Genjutsu?" he skillfully changed the subject. She briefly paused and thought back to her training with Tsunade, flipping though memories like files in a cabinet.

"Only a few," she said thoughtfully. "When I was training with Tsunade it was usually on medical ninjutsu and evasion techniques but she taught me how to recreate the environment once. After that it was back to the textbooks, though, and we never went further down that particular road."

"So you understand the basics of it?"

"Yes," she began, reciting the words her shishou had once taught her. "In order for Genjutsu to be effective, you must extend your chakra flow through the cerebral nervous system of your opponent in order to control their minds chakra, effecting their five senses. Attention to detail is key or else it would be seen through easily and it requires precise chakra control and a high level of intelligence. In fact, if it weren't for your Sharingan, Genjutsu would probably be particularly difficult for you. Have you ever tried to perform it without Sharingan activated?"

"Hn," he didn't meet her eyes.

"Try it," she urged. "Right now, try it on me."

"What?"

"I'm not kidding. Try it right now so I can see if you can manipulate chakra well enough to do it without your Sharingan."

He gave her a look which clearly read _'are you insane?'_ but her leveled stare on him had him readying his hands for more seals. He really had never needed to perform Genjutsu without the aid of his Sharingan. In fact, he couldn't think of a single instance where he had even tried.

His hands flew through the seals, becoming nothing more than a pale blur against his dark shirt. He stared deep into her vibrant green eyes, in more of a habit than a necessity, and enacted the first Genjutsu that came to mind. Immediately those clear viridian eyes lost focus and looked off into the distance.

_She was standing over the operating table, the patient was so, _so _pale and cold. The scalpel clasped in her gloved hand trembled as she stared down at the man who's entire form began to quake. In the back of her mind she barely registered the spastic beeping of the electrocardiogram. Ventricular fibrillation._

_Her muscles wouldn't allow her to move, to call out for a defibrillator, perform CPR, anything. Then the beeping became a drone, a flat line. She stared down at the man who had been reduced to a body, and felt the searing pain of failure envelop her. A white sheet was pulled over the body and almost immediately blood began to blossom, seeping into the linen. She had never had a chance to close the incision._

Sasuke watched her, noting the faraway look with something akin to pride until those viridian eyes began to water. It was only then that he realized just _what _Genjutsu had come to his mind first. His heart dropped like lead and he reached out to touch her shoulder, giving her a shock of chakra to stop the spastic flow of chakra to her mind.

_She was looking at the body's family. Their uncertain looks, begging her for reassurance that she couldn't give and she couldn't open her mouth to tell them. To say how she couldn't save him. That he was-_

"Sakura!"

Her glazed over eyes regained focus and found his face, so close and pale. Pale like that man who had become only a body. Worried, like that man-body's family as they stared at her expectantly, waiting to hear that everything went smoothly. That he would come back to them, good as new. She remembered that _he _had been the first patient she had ever lost. A drip of moisture trickled down her cheek, sliding in between her clamped lips.

"Sakura!" she realized that she was being shaken and stared brokenly into his dark eyes. She licked her lips, tasting the salt of her tears and started to realize just what had happened. Anger quickly replaced her sadness, but not at him. She should have realized just how stupid it was to ask an _Uchiha_ of all people to cast a Genjutsu on her. Whether it be for informative purposes or not, it would never be worth it.

She tried to pull herself together and he slowly released her shoulders. She brushed the back of her hand against her moist cheeks and stared at the bridge of his nose, not daring to look him in the eye.

"You can manipulate chakra leading to the temporal lobes, instigating memories to resurface and replay. It is enough to distract your opponent for an extended period, depending on them memory, and would create a big enough opening to capture or kill your opponent. The chakra control it takes is substantial." Her voice sounded raw to her own ears and she quickly cleared it. After her mind had fully returned to reality she began to dissect everything she had experienced and combined it with her knowledge on the subject. Only then did she realize the flaws. That family belonged to a different patient, another one she couldn't save. "Your control is pretty good, but you were unable to hold it well enough. I experienced two different memories, meaning that your chakra fluctuated intensities in the middle of performing the Genjutsu."

He scrutinized her silently, scanning her expression for any psychological damage that his jutsu could have caused, but was only met with her professional demeanor. He wasn't sure of whatever painful memory he had drug out of her subconscious, but it quickly became apparent to him that she had already tucked it back into the recesses of her mind to dwell on later. She was shielding her emotions, a feat that he was unaware she could accomplish until recently.

"Aa," was all he could think of as a reply to her as she began to explain different ways to learn how to control his chakra better, to keep the strength and flow of it constant, but her explanation became nothing but background noise to his own thoughts.

He had hurt her, again. Even if she had asked for it this time, he had _hurt _her. The absolute pain that had filled her expression during those few moments of delirium were a testament to this. He watched her try to help him and wondered _'Why bother?'_ but couldn't bring himself to voice his thoughts out loud. Sometimes he really despised himself.

"Sasuke? You listening?"

He was snapped out of his angsty musings by her curious voice and glanced at her guarded expression. In that moment, he froze over any and all emotions and became _Uchiha Sasuke._

"Hn,"

"Please, pay attention so I don't have to explain this twice."

He stared at her as she continued to break apart his techniques, his flaws and he _hated _it. He hated that he had any weaknesses to break down. He hated that Kakashi was trying to _fix _them. He hated that they needed to _be _fixed. She felt like a stranger to him, now, and treated him as such and he hate, hate, _hated _it.

She had stopped talking and was staring at him impatiently. He glanced up at her.

"I can't teach you anything if you don't pay attention."

"Hn,"

Her hands found her hips and her foot began to tap against the grass. He sighed.

"What?"

"Are you going to pay attention, now?"

"Aa,"

And with that, she continued her lesson in the presence of the once-avenger's attentive gaze, thinking that she felt more comfortable with him ignoring her. She could only help him so much, though. For her, chakra control came naturally. Sure, it took inordinate concentration when she was in the operating room, stitching back together flesh and organs, but for mundane training? It didn't compute in her brain how someone couldn't just _do _it. Although, she figured, he and Naruto had such excessive supplies of chakra that they never really _needed _to control it. But she had never had too terribly much chakra and had always had to control it to a hair. She had no idea how to teach to others what came naturally to her, she could only tell him what he was doing wrong.

That afternoon, after training and before her shift at the hospital, she visited the place which was like a second home to her; the library, making her way to the back section.

"Chakra Control and Techniques"

* * *

><p>Woowoo, chapter two! Oh man, you guys totally made my week with all of your reviews! Seriously, the "check engine" light in my car (which I only got a week ago) decided to turn on and I ripped my pants at work (only on the leg, luckily) but, at the end of the day, all of your reviews still managed to make me smile, so thank you :)<p>

But, hey, in case more bad things happen again this week... more reviews are nice :D


	3. Chapter 3

.:To Trust Again:.

Chapter 3

* * *

><p>The muscles in her hand were wound, tense with abuse as the pen in her hand became harder and harder to control as it skritched against the ink subjected paper. The medical report in front of her lay open, three pages full of her doctors scrawl with another seven pages left of thoughts and ideas to go. Her neck bowed over the mandatory paperwork of a medic while her elbow rested on the polished wood of her desk, supporting her weary head.<p>

"Sakura-sempai?" a nurse peeked in from behind the door, cautiously peering around the room. At the inclination of the medic's head she began to explain herself. "The patient in room 208 is complaining of pain and wishes to see you."

Sakura let out a tired breath then stood with a smile.

"Thank you, Kyoko-chan. I'll go see him now."

The younger medic nodded and left the room to tend to her own duties. Sakura followed her out the door, turning in the opposite direction and strode down the halls. Absentmindedly, she stretched out her arms over her head, hearing a distinct popping noise from her shoulder before skirting around a frenzied group of medics who were wheeling a gurney to the ICU. Ino was already in the room, prepping for the oncoming surgery. Sakura let out a sigh of relief.

After Ino had taken apprenticeship under Tsunade as well she had become a highly capable medic. Sakura trusted her with the other patients and knew that Shizune and their Shishou did as well and could rest easy, knowing that she wouldn't be called in to perform her fourth emergency surgery of the day.

Sakura continued down the halls, counting off the room numbers until she reached the right door. It was the patient who had been impaled by the plank of wood while building his shop, the one she had lost almost all of her chakra on while performing his emergency surgery before her big blowout with Sasuke; Osameru Yusei.

She gave the door two sharp knocks before twisting the knob and pushing it open. The man lay on the starched white hospital bed, propped up by a small stack of pillows. He was clad in standard hospital garb and his wavy brown hair sat in a frizzled mess above his head. His tanned skin held a pallor, though it was comparatively less than when he had first arrived.

He cracked open a forest-green eye and a small smile played across his face.

"So there's the angel who saved my life." his voice was gravely, like he had been asleep for a long while and was in desperate need of a glass of water. Sakura smiled at him and grabbed a Dixie cup from the dispenser by the sink, filling it with the cool substance.

"Just doing my job." she handed him the cup, which he drank from greedily, drowning it until there was but a drop in the bottom rim.

"Your job saved my life," he flashed her a charming smile, showing off the dimples in his cheeks. "And for that I am grateful."

A pretty pink blush crawled across her cheeks until she remembered just who she was and what she was doing there.

"How are you feeling?" she was back in medic mode, not minding at all that one of the cutest twenty-something year olds she had ever seen was semi-flirting with her.

Nope, not at all.

"My stomach's killing me," he grimaced, indicating where the splintery plank had driven itself through his abdomen. "The pain killer stuff that the nurses have given me isn't doing the trick."

She spared a glance to his bandaged middle, remembering that the last time she had seen it the flesh was stitching itself back together. She didn't heal it completely, though. It was usually best to let the body repair itself whenever possible. If she didn't, sometimes the cells would continue to rapidly regenerate, even after the healing was completed, causing an abnormal or detrimental amount of scar tissue.

"I can prescribe a stronger dosage, but chances are its still going to feel pretty sore." she explained, stepping towards the foot of his bed to look at his charts to make sure he wouldn't have an allergic reaction to any differentiation in medication. When she had assured herself that all would be well, she spared him a quick smile before making her way to the door. "Well, I'd better get going."

"Wait!" his voice froze her in place. She turned to look at him, noticing a miniscule amount of color in his cheeks. "what's your name?"

An amused smile lifted the corners of her mouth before she left.

"Haruno Sakura,"

* * *

><p>"Do you understand the hand seals?"<p>

"Yes," Sakura's mind ran them though over and over in a never ending rotation. _'Ton, I, Uma, Saru, Ton, Ushi, Hitsuji. Ton, I, Uma, Saru, Ton, Ushi, Hitsuji. Ton-'_

"Then try it." Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest, watching the medic nin concentrate. He was trying to teach her some basic Genjutsu, as Kakashi had instructed the previous day, and she was picking it up fast. Much faster than he expected, really. Their sensei's intuition about her affinity for that particular ninja art were spot on.

His attention was focused solely on her as she performed each seal, slowly at first but with gaining speed. Eyes closed in concentration, she hit the final seal and he was plunged into a different world, if it could really be called that. It was more like a never-ending gray space, void of any walls or objects. If it wasn't for the fact that he could no longer feel the ground beneath his feet he would have thought that he had merely closed his eyes.

He halted his chakra flow, dispelling the jutsu only to be met with the stare of curious jade eyes.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, "You understand the basics of it, but the Genjutsu itself was relatively plain."

"Plain?" her defenses were back up, but her desire to learn continued to twist its way into her voice.

"Hn," he had her full attention and it was somewhat unnerving. "With this Genjutsu you have to control you chakra flow to your opponents brain in such a way to create an image in their mind and sensations they must feel, but it is you who decides those sensations. It takes a certain amount of creativity, I suppose."

That one sentence had an amused grin splitting across her face. _'Uchiha? Creative? Ha!'_

"Creativity?" her amusement made him look vaguely uncomfortable.

"Hn," he looked off to glare at a nearby tree, unable to stand her jovial grin at his expense. "You have to think of an image you want your opponent to see, and it has to be able to bring out some form emotion which will stop them for long enough to take them out."

Sakura almost wanted to laugh _'Sasuke talking about emotion?'_

"So, what should I do?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Just think of something, an image or a scene and manipulate you chakra so that I can see it."

Sakura nodded, amusement draining from her face as she began to concentrate. His gaze returned to her as he waited for her next attempt. Her teeth unknowingly chewed on her bottom lip until, finally, her determined stare was back in place and her hands back in motion.

Sasuke found himself on a stone-paved street leading to nowhere. Cherry blossom trees in full bloom loitered on either side, illuminated only by the pale glow of the moon. A gust of wind tore some of the pale petals from their branches, swirling them in eddies around his body, brushing against his exposed arms and face.

Their fragrance hit him along with a wave of melancholy. This had been the path that team seven walked down every time they were to leave the village for a mission. This had been the place where he had left Sakura on as he continued on his quest to gain power, but the bench was gone.

Guilt and self loathing bubbled in his gut along with a grim sense of achievement. He had gained the power that he had long since desired and had completed his goals. In a way, it had been worth it.

He cut his chakra flow once more, and the image before him faded into oblivion. The new view in front of him, however, was lacking in the pink-haired medic department, so he attempted to turn around too look for her.

It was then that he realized that he was sitting on the grass, tied to the very tree that had oh-so often become the victim of his glares.

"Oh, you're back?"

He had to crane his neck to see where she was lounging on one of the branches, a few meters above his head. On her lap lay a thick medical scroll, opened to the center and her pen was poised above its surface to underline important bits of information.

All self-loathing forgotten, white hot anger coursed through him. He attempted to break the bonds that held him with strength alone by moving his arms away from his side but found that the rope only bit into them painfully. She had thought to use chakra.

"Untie me, Haruno." he grit out, to which she sighed and began re-packing her scroll and pen into her medic pouch.

"You were taking too long, its been nearly fifteen minutes since I performed that jutsu. Seven since I tied you up." she hopped of the branch and squatted down behind the trunk. Her fingers nimbly picked through the rope, loosening the series of complex knots she had used. "You had said that it would be enough of a distraction to take out your opponent. Since that wasn't really an option, I figured that 'capturing' you would be a good alternative."

The ropes went slack around his arms and he quickly stood, turning to glare at her with full force. She shrugged him off.

"And it worked, didn't it?" she flashed him a smile, looking _almost _apologetic. "You're _such_ a good teacher!"

Momentarily distracted by her sudden use of flattery, he froze. It was almost like the old days, when everything he did was right in her eyes. When she would give out her praises like free candy and her smiles were only meant for him. When she _didn't _tie him to trees.

"Hn," he looked away from her and she took that opportunity to wipe the nervous sweat from her brow. She hated being the victim of his death-glares.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto came bounding up to them from out of nowhere. Kakashi was following a small distance behind him, nose buried in one of his books. "Lets go get ramen!"

Her eyes lit up at the sight of him as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. Sasuke leaned against the tree which had only moments before been his prison, scowl adorning his face.

"Ramen again? You know, one of these days you're going to die from all of the sodium in that stuff," she berated him but a grin split her face. Naruto pouted and crossed his arms behind his head as Kakashi finally caught up to the hyperactive ninja.

"But Sakura-chan!" he whined. "Ramen is so delicious and _magical_! How could it possible do me any harm?"

They all began walking in the direction of Ichiraku's, Sakura criticizing Naruto's eating habits as he began to helplessly defend his food of choice. Sasuke and Kakashi took up the rear, watching their animated argument.

"Dobe," Sasuke sighed under his breath, causing his sensei to chuckle.

"You should have seen the first time Sakura accepted his proposal to go out on a date," he laughed just thinking about it, noting the deepening of Sasuke's scowl. "During that time, Tsunade had been teaching her about nutrition and the effects certain foods had on the body. She nearly screamed his ear off when he asked if she wanted to go to Ichiraku's and made him take her to a tea shop instead, saying something about the anti-oxidants in the tea or something along those lines."

They walked in silence after that. Kakashi had pulled out his book as Sasuke realized just how many little things of their lives he had missed. He remembered how Naruto would always ask Sakura out on dates and how she would blatantly refuse him before trying to ask the same thing of Sasuke. He could scarcely imagine her actually _accepting. _Things really _had _changed after he left.

When they had finally reached the infamous ramen vendor, Sakura and Naruto had reached a stalemate and were both pouting and refusing to look at each other. They all took their respective seats at the bar as Naruto boisterously greeted the "old man" and Ayame, much to their amusement.

"What can I get for you today?" Ayame asked the four of them.

"Miso!" both Naruto and Sakura declared at the same time as Sasuke and Kakashi simply stated their orders in a much more sedated fashion. They spent the next few minutes talking about their lessons and Sakura told Naruto about how she had bound the Uchiha to a tree, leaving the blonde howling in laughter. Sasuke scowled, glaring off at some unknown object.

"Sakura-chan?" upon hearing her name, the medic nin turned from her animated conversation with Naruto and looked out to the street, seeing the couple who had called out to her. The woman was petite and held onto the man's bicep with delicate pale fingers, clad in a petal-pink sundress and light colored sandals. Her waist-length rose tinted hair cascaded down her back, unperturbed by decorative pins or ties. The man was several inches taller with short, gray peppered hair which had only just begun to recede at the top. His green eyes stared at the medic nin with a warm sense of recognition.

A smile played across Sakura's features.

"Okaa-san, Otou-san!" she greeted, standing from her place at the bar and moving towards them for a hug. Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi turned to stare at the newcomers. Naruto and Kakashi had seen them on a few rare occasions, but this was the first time Sasuke had ever associated Sakura with people other than her teammates or her patients. The topic of her family had never really come up in a conversation, though he supposed that was her way of being considerate of her orphaned friends.

"How was training?" her mother inquired, grasping the medic in a quick embrace.

"It went well," Sakura smiled, released from her mothers grip.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan totally kicked the teme's ass!" Naruto hollered from his seat at the bar, not one to be left out. Her mother laughed as Kakashi reached over and bonked the blonde on the head.

"Please, excuse my tactless student," Kakashi said, scratching his cheek sheepishly.

"It's nice to see you again, Hatake-san." Sakura's father greeted him, to which Kakashi returned the favor.

"And who is this?" Sakura's mother kindly noted the fourth person at the bar, tilting her head in hopes to get another look.

"Ah, right!" Sakura exclaimed, glancing back to her other teammate. "You guys have never met Sasuke."

Her mother's face lit in recognition as Sasuke turned to face them, she remembered his face from that picture that Sakura had gotten all of those years ago. Sakura's father's face, however, darkened at the sight of the tall brooding male. His name was one that he couldn't forget. It was one that he had, on countless occasions, heard Sakura cry out as he attempted to comfort her from some of her most vivid nightmares. He found he could only associate Sasuke's name with his precious daughter's tears.

"Hello, I'm Uchiha Sasuke." he bowed as he introduced himself, his strict formal upbringing coming to the surface. His good manners only heightened Sakura's father's dislike for the boy.

Uchiha Sasuke was every fathers worst nightmare, complete with rugged good looks and cool air of indifference.

Sakura's mother, however, was delighted as she remembered hearing that this was her daughters childhood crush. She had always taught Sakura to aim high and was proud to see that she had followed her mother's advice, even at such a young age.

"Pleased to meat you, Uchiha-san, I'm Haruno Nozomi," she said, bowing to strapping young lad and feeling something akin to giddiness at his etiquette. "This is my husband, Haruno Ryoku. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hmph," Ryoku grumbled, glaring off in a different direction as the Uchiha bowed to him as well. A painful jab to the ribs from Nozomi forced his attention back to the boy and the threat of another had him bent at the spine. Not bowing. He refused to _bow _to the one who made his daughter cry.

Sakura let out a silent laugh at her parent's antics and Sasuke's formal behavior. Who knew he could be such a gentleman?

The clunking of porcelain against polished wood had all of them turning back to Ichiraku's.

"Ramen!" Naruto bellowed, causing Nozomi to giggle as she watched her daughter bonk the blonde on the head, yelling something about noise levels.

"Well, why don't we get out of your hair so you can enjoy your dinner?" she laughed, drawing the attention of her sulking husband.

"You're more than welcome to join us," Kakashi offered, motioning to the empty bar stools, but Nozomi shook her head in declination.

"We still have some shopping to do," she explained, tightening her hold on her husbands arm. He glanced down at her and received a powerful _look_.

Let it be known that a Haruno's _look _can outclass an Uchiha's _glare _any day.

"It was nice meeting you," he forced out, sounding half strangled and receiving an approving smile from Nozomi who then proceeded to drag him away towards the shops, chatting amiably about "charming young lads" and the "sale on apples" two blocks down.

Sakura's warm green eyes watched after them until they turned the corner, acting as if _she _were the protective mother watching over her children, before she took her seat beside Naruto at the bar where he was already noisily slurping down his ramen.

She barely got to take a bite before she was interrupted again.

"Sakura-sempai!"

Sakura stared sadly down at her barely touched bowl before turning to see Megumi dodging through crowds, hurrying in her general direction.

"Someone's popular this evening," muttered Naruto in-between mouthfuls. Sakura sighed and dropped her money onto the counter and pushing her bowl towards the blonde, who accepted it _gratefully._

"Sakura-sempai," she skidded to a halt in front of the medic, shoulders heaving with her pants. "Another team came in. It's really bad, Tsunade ordered you to come immediately."

Sakura nodded, face set into a grim line. If Tsunade was called away from her duties as Hokage to help out, then things must really be _bad. _

"Leaving so soon?"

Sakura turned to see all of her teammates eyes on her, Kakashi having been the one who spoke. She managed a weak smile at them, more of a quirk of the lips than anything.

"Hai, I'll be leaving now."

She turned to leave with Megumi as Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi watched her retreating form, barely catching the younger nurse's mischievous comment before they rounded the corner in the direction of the hospital.

"I hear Yusei-san has been asking for his _angel _agai-"

"Shut up, Megumi."

Only when they were completely out of sight did Naruto practically explode.

"_Yusei? _Who the hell is _that?"_ his chopsticks nearly broke in his tightened grip as the blonde stood his seat, sending ripples through the broth of his half-eaten ramen.

"Calm down, Naruto." Kakashi commanded, nose once again buried in his orange covered book of smut.

"B-but!"

"Sakura's a big girl now. She probably wouldn't appreciate you butting into her affairs." he flipped the page, eyes roving over lines that would make Sakura flustered and violent.

"But we should still check it out!" Naruto pleaded, turning to the once-avenger. "Right, Sasuke? You wouldn't want some scumbag coming onto Sakura, right?"

Sasuke grunted and turned back to his ramen.

"Oh come _on!_ Aren't either of you in the _least _bit concerned for her well-being?" he exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air in exasperation.

"I don't believe her well being is in jeopardy." Kakashi commented, only to fall up short. Another plan began to form in his head, one that would, in no way, help the Sasuke-Sakura trust situation, but would serve to amuse him immensely. "But if you're _really _that concerned…." his book snapped shut. "Sasuke and Naruto, why don't you both check it out?"

"_Thank _you!"

Sasuke glared at his sensei, unbridled resentment burning through his onyx eyes, making it very clear of his opinion on his sensei's brilliant _plan._

Sensing the Uchiha's heated gaze, Kakashi decided to clarify his previous statement.

"And by 'why don't you,' I mean 'do it.'" he sent Sasuke a leveled glare, turning his voice low and dangerous. "_Both _of you."

Fed up with his sensei's antics, Sasuke decided to speak out in his usual, monosyllabic way.

"Why?"

Kakashi glanced up at the ceiling, apparently pondering an answer to his question.

"Lets call it a team building exercise," the copy nin finally decided. "You and Naruto need you work on teamwork, stealth in particular," he sent a pointed stare at the blonde before continuing. "and I believe that you two should take this chance to see just how hard Sakura is working when she's not with us. And to make sure that this 'Yusei-san' isn't some scumbag." he finally concluded, gaining a thoughtful nod from Naruto and another heated glare from the Uchiha.

"That's stupid,"

"That's an order from your superior."

Silence and more glares ensued.

Naruto was near bouncing out of his seat.

Kakashi and Sasuke were locked in a battle of the glares, both fighting for the dominance and pride of supremacy.

Naruto cleared his throat.

Sasuke looked away with a grunt.

Smiling beneath his mask in victory, Kakashi gave the final order.

"Now, go find out who this Yusei-san is and report to me tomorrow morning before training."

"Hai!" bellowed Naruto, saluting the jonin as Sasuke glared all of his hatred into his half-empty bowl of ramen.

"Hn,"

Naruto was already bounding off in the direction of the hospital, some how having been able to down both his and Sakura's ramen, and left a handful of Ryo on the counter. He was soon followed by a sulking Sasuke, hands shoved deep into his pockets, back slouched in both defeat and defiance.

Before they got too far away, Kakashi imparted on them one final piece of advice.

"Don't get caught!"

Naruto hesitated for only a moment, receiving a vivid flashback of flying nearly fifty meters away from the pinkette after her punch met his face. But that was only for a moment, and he soon found himself hurdling in the direction of the hospital, the once-avenger dragging behind.

* * *

><p>Yatta! Third chapter is out! Sorry it took me longer to update this, but with school coming up and college applications needing to be in... Priorities, my friends, are a b****. But anyways, thank all of you sooo much for the reviews! Last week had its own league of problems and all of your feedback got me through it with a smile on my face :) so, really, thank you guys! I try to get back to you guys as much as possible, but if I didn't message you back then I must apologize profusely! I read all of them and I love hearing from you!<p>

So, I mean, if you _want_ to... well, I mean, the buttons down there :)


	4. Chapter 4

.:To Trust Again:.

Chapter 4

* * *

><p>"This is stupid."<p>

"Shut up, teme. We're supposed to be _stealthy, _remember?"

Naruto and Sasuke were kneeling on the ledge of a hospital window, the other side of which they could only see a door. It had been several hours since they had arrived, with all intents and purposes to keep an eye on their pink haired medic and to figure out just who this _Yusei-san _was, only to be halted by the prospect of a windowless operating room. So now they were forced to watch the door at the end of the corridor, waiting for Sakura to emerge, triumphant or defeated.

The family of whoever Sakura was working on was waiting outside the door as well, faces pale and grim as they hoped for the best but expected the worst. The older man in the room, the father Naruto and Sasuke guessed, sat on the bench, shoulders hunched and elbows resting on his knees as his thumb and index finger pinched the bridge of his nose as, eyes scrunched painfully shut. The woman, his wife they presumed, sat next to him, quietly crying into a tissue as her shoulders shook with her sobs. An older boy was in there as well, standing beside the woman and squeezing her trembling shoulders in a subtle form of comfort, his eyes glued to the door.

Naruto and Sasuke could feel the medic's chakra draining away behind that closed door. It flowed consistently, in a steady stream of pure energy which they _knew_ was being put to use performing miracles on what would normally have been a lost cause, stitching flesh and remaking bone, preserving the life of the one who had been entrusted to her capable hands. Her chakra levels were reaching a dangerously low point, where most would call it quits in fear of complete chakra drain, but it continued to flow like sand from an hourglass.

Suddenly, the consistent stream of energy began to ebb away and Naruto and Sasuke began to wonder if she had simply ran out of expendable chakra. They waited, feeling something akin to anxiety as her chakra passed the usual point of retreat, the point where the lack of energy began to take a toll on her well being, and continued to slowly drain away. Just as Naruto was about ready to kick in the window and burst through the door to stop her, the flow stopped. For a brief moment, both of the hidden shinobi froze, fear creeping through their veins as they wondered if she had used _too _much.

Sasuke thought back to when Kakashi was teaching him the Chidori all of those years ago. He had warned Sasuke that he was only capable of using Chidori twice in a battle, or else he would run out of chakra. When Sasuke asked of the consequences of trying a third time, Kakashi had said that at best the jutsu wouldn't work. At worst, he would die.

Both of them stood on the window ledge, cold panic sweeping through their stomachs until they felt a flicker of chakra from in the room. It was barely anything, just a little twitch of energy, but it meant the world to them. The breath whooshed out of Naruto as Sasuke dropped back into a crouched position on the sill, eyes closed in what only those who knew him best could classify as relief.

The door swung open, revealing the exhausted pinkette. Naruto dropped down in attempt to avoid her shinobi-certified gaze as his ears perked to hear her next words.

"Higai-san?" she called to the waiting family, voice ringing like copper pennies. All of their eyes were glued to her pale form as a tired smile broke across her face. "He should be alright. You can see him now, if you want."

From his hiding place on the sill, a melancholic smile spread on Naruto's face as he heard the woman's sobs grow louder in relief. The boy whispered soft words of reassurance to her as he collapsed next to her in the chair, emotional drain taking its toll. They could hear the man's proclamations of gratitude to the medic, half strangled by emotion as he rushed past her to get to his son.

Quiet swept over the corridor as the family filed into the room to glimpse at the boy on the hospital bed, leaving the medic alone in the hall. Naruto and Sasuke both glimpsed up through the window as Sakura flopped against one of the walls, sliding down it with her neck craned back to rest her head against it, musing her pink locks as she descended. Her emerald eyes closed in exhaustion as her fingers softly rubbed underneath them, hoping to rub the weariness from them. Her knees were bent a little ways in front of her, leaning against each other in attempts to hold their position.

Naruto wanted to break through the window for the umpteenth time that day, this time to carry Sakura home so she could get some much-needed rest. Sasuke could only stare at the woman against the wall, the woman who believed _no one _was watching as the strong front she was oh-so fond of hiding behind shattered into a thousand pieces, revealing the epitome of exhaustion and fragility. She looked weak, but not in the same way that she had all of those years ago. No, she looked like someone who had simply used all of their strength, leaving in ruins whatever remained of the wielder of its power.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a brief look, silently agreeing to abandon their mission in favor of helping their fallen comrade. Before they could do anything in the way of assisting her, however, the kunoichi was pulling herself back to her feet, palms pressed flat against the wall behind her as she used it as leverage and support to reclaim her standing position. They watched as she took a deep breath and headed down a different hallway, looking all the professional and composed medic that she was known for, and they couldn't help but wondering just how often this happened.

Silently, they both leapt from the sill, landing in a crouch amidst the shadows of the trees surrounding the hospital before they began their trek to the main entrance. It was about time that they forced the medics retirement for the day. When they reached the reception desk, the nurse in charge there gave them both a knowing look when they asked to see their kunoichi.

"From what I heard, she's just finished up with a surgery and should be in her office. I suppose you already know where that is, ne, Naruto-san?" she spared him a grin as he nodded in agreement before her expression softened a bit. "Make sure she goes home and gets some sleep, alright?"

"Hai!" Naruto grinned as he walked past the desk, Sasuke in tow as they slipped through the bustling halls to get to the room that Naruto had had to drag Sakura out of countless times, her being too weak to fight him off. Sasuke had never visited her office before. In fact, he didn't even know that she _had _an office. He was well aware that Sakura was a world renowned kunoichi, though he didn't realize that it wasn't just her shinobi rank that put her up there with the greats. She had a professional side to her, one that involved blades and blood in a completely different way than what her shinobi training had instilled in her. In a way that made her just as famous in the civilian world as she was in the ninja world.

When they finally reached her office, they were both surprised to find the door locked and the room empty.

"Where is-" Naruto started off, only to be cut off by Sasuke's warning glare as two middle-aged nurses passed by. One of them was pleasantly plump with a nurturing, motherly expression whereas the other was tall and thin with a hard face but soft eyes.

"I don't know how she managed to pull it off! That boy looked to be on death's doorstep when he came in!" exclaimed the thinner nurse as her co-worker nodded sympathetically. Naruto and Sasuke's ears perked up.

"Well it definitely took its toll on her. Poor dear, looked like she was about to fall over just walking down the hall! Do you think we should tell her to take the rest of the day off?" the nurse inquired as the both of them passed by Sakura's office, not noticing her two teammates clinging on to their every word.

"No, she's a shinobi too, you know? Probably wouldn't want us to interfere anyway." the two women nodded solemnly to each other before a mysterious glint appeared in the plump one.

"Well, there's also that cute new patient who's taken to calling her _angel."_ Naruto nearly jumped at the women.

"You mean the one who she saved a few days ago? The shop keeper who fell on a wooden beam or something?"

"That's the one! I think I saw her heading to his room a few minutes ago," both of them shared a knowing look before rounding a corner to continue their gossip, leaving behind a fuming Naruto and a _highly _irritated Sasuke.

"She's going to his _room?" _the blonde squawked, restrained from stomping off after the nurses for more information by Sasuke's tight grip on his arm. Naruto spun around to glare at the Uchiha only to see that his eyes were unfocused, concentrating. "Teme?"

His eyes snapped back into focus and started away from Sakura's office, followed only by Naruto's confused expression.

"She's down the hall, third room to the left," Sasuke muttered, jerking the blonde back into action as he darted past the Uchiha and skidded around the corner.

When Sasuke reached his predicted location of his teammate, he saw Naruto hesitating outside the door, hand on the knob as he cued in to the muffled voices coming from inside.

"You really look like shit, angel."

"Don't call me that," Sakura snapped. "And as if _you're _one to talk."

The man inside, Yusei if Sasuke remembered correctly, chuckled at her spitfire personality. "Yeah, well, you stitched me up good as new!"

"Che," she snorted, and Sasuke could hear the thunks and taps of someone fumbling around in a cupboard. "I need to change your bandages, please remove your shirt."

"Well, somebody's feisty today," Sasuke felt as if a tiny drip of acid landed in his stomach at Yusei's flirtatious tone. Naruto looked to be positively _steaming._

Sakura sighed.

"Please, I really don't like re-injuring patients."

"Hai, hai!" the rustling of fabric alerted the two outside the door to the removal of clothes inside the room. Another drip of acid felt as if it were scorching his innards.

"Ah, your hands are _cold!"_

"Shut up,"

"Oh well, they say that cold hands means a warm heart."

Naruto looked furious and flustered, all of those years spent training with Jiraiya took their toll on his imagination. A low whistle came through the door, and the blonde stiffened further whereas the brows of the Uchiha furrowed.

"That's going to be one heck of a scar," came Sakura's approving voice.

"Yeah, real great for attracting the ladies," was his sarcastic reply. There was a slight pause before Sakura spoke again.

"Do not be ashamed of your scars, they're only proof that you have surpassed hardship," Naruto and Sasuke relaxed a bit, thinking of the various implications of that statement.

"Well, someone's sounding sagely today,"

She laughed, a bright and tinkling sound.

"That's what the girls were told in the academy so that they wouldn't feel like 'damaged goods' later in life."

The two outside the door took a moment to absorb that knowledge. Both remembered that during their days at the academy the males and females were separated for some classes, but they never knew what was taught to the kunoichi.

"So, you have some scars too, I take it?" Yusei's voice sounded hesitant, as if he had forgotten that the woman in front of him was not only a miracle-worker medic, but was also a shinobi of the village.

"Yeah, though they're admittedly smaller than yours."

"Yeah, well you've probably never been impaled by a plank of wood."

Sakura gave a brief pause before answering. "No, not a plank of wood…"

Everything seemed to freeze in that instant. All color drained from Naruto's face as his jaw dropped open. Sasuke felt as if an electric jolt had run through him, only physically manifesting itself by the miniscule widening of his eyes. Even Yusei had been struck silent, the only noise from the room being from Sakura's re-bandaging of his wound.

"So y-you've…" he finally managed to stutter out.

"Yeah, only it was a poisoned blade," Sasuke could practically hear the smirk in her voice and stood there, frozen with only one thought on his mind. '_Who?'_

"_WHAT?" _

Naruto barged into the room, sliding the door open so hard that it nearly bounced back closed. He stood in the doorway, air whooshing out of his lungs in pounding breaths as his knuckles bleached from his grip on the wall.

Sakura whipped around at the sudden intrusion, wide viridian eyes locked onto his cerulean ones as her lithe fingers tightened on the bandage she was holding. One end of the bandage was wrapped snugly around the man in the bed, barely covering the spider web of stitches and the mass of bruising on his abdomen. He appeared equally, if not more, shocked by the blonde's sudden interruption.

"Naruto?" Sakura's voice was laden with far more confusion than anger, which momentarily gave both shinobi pause. _'Was she really _that _tired?'_

"What do mean that you were-were-"

"Impaled?" Sakura turned back to Yusei to finish dressing his wound. Naruto stepped further into the room as Sasuke took residence in the doorway, arms crossed tightly over his chest. "You really shouldn't eavesdrop on others conversations."

"Never mind that! You were _impaled?_"

"Didn't I already tell you?" she tied off the end of the bandage and turned to face her teammates, brows furrowed. "It was when me and Chiyo-baasama were fighting Sasori."

"No, you never told me!" Naruto screeched, face reddening in anger. Sakura briefly flicked through her memories, searching for the moment where it had come up in a conversation and drawling a blank. _'Maybe I really _didn't _tell him?'_

"Oh," she pulled up the corner of her shirt to expose the short, ragged scar that had been the result of that particular battle. "Sasori was about to kill Chiyo-baasama, and I could only stop it by getting in the way."

All three males in the room stared at the discolored portion of her flesh. The anger drained from Naruto, replaced by shock and disbelief. Sasuke's face paled and his eyes widened as he stared at the exact _location _of the wound.

Understanding their confusion, Sakura explained. "It was actually a fatal hit," Naruto sucked in a breath. "If Chiyo-baasama hadn't used her Kesho Tensei, I would have died for sure."

She released the fabric in her hand, allowing her shirt to slide back into place above her hip. Yusei and Naruto gawked at her as she ambled over to the sink in order to rid her hands of any residing bacteria before she made her way to where Sasuke was blocking the doorway. Her weary, defiant eyes locked onto his, silently ordering him from his current position. He held her gaze for a short moment, reading into her expression for any form of weakness, before he silently slid out of the way to allow her to pass.

Naruto gazed, slack-jawed, after her retreating figure, unable to comprehend that Sakura had basically just left him in the dust. He stood there for about thirty seconds. Sasuke could practically see the sum of the events that had transpired clicking together in his head as his blue eyes widened and jaw slammed shut, teeth grit.

"Sakura!" he hollered, bounding for the door before he paused and turned to Yusei. He gave the man a quick once-over before growling at the him with so much vehemence that Yusei's tan skin paled under the florescent lighting of his hospital room. "Don't you dare lay so much as a _finger _on Sakura-chan!"

With that he took off down the hallway at a dead sprint, followed by Sasuke at a more leisurely pace until a crash and a scream shot ice through his veins.

"_Sakura-sempai!" _

Naruto pushed his legs so hard and so fast that his father would have been proud. Sasuke used the speed that he had taken _years_ to build up to zip past him, skidding around the corner only to see a cluster of chaos. At least seven different nurses were mobbed about one prone figure, limp on the linoleum floor. His heart dropped to his gut when he saw a pale hand flop out of the mass, lightly curled fingers slapping against the ground as he peeked at a sprawl of tangled pink locks.

Naruto flew around the corner, not a fraction of a second later, and absorbed the same scene. Cold panic rippled across his face as he barged past the scrambling nurses to get to his fallen comrade.

"_Sakura-chan!" _he dropped to his knees next to her, snatching her hand from the floor and holding it in both of his. Sasuke moved in to stand behind him, taking in the pinkette's shallow breathing and the light sheen of sweat that coated her flushed figure.

"What's wrong with her?" he turned to one of the nurses, tone low and dangerous. The nurse in question gulped before dropping to his knees and taking Sakura's other hand, feeling for the pulse. He then felt at her throat and checked her pupils, all the while receiving a murderous stare from the Uchiha.

"Its just chakra depletion," the nurse sighed in relief. "Severe chakra depletion, though. She went _way _past the advisable limit of chakra utilization, causing a shortage in the chakra channels leading to her vital organs. Her body simply shut down temporarily in order to use whatever chakra remains to support only the most vital functions."

"What?" Naruto looked up from his position by Sakura.

"She passed out," the nurse explained, far too used to dumbing down his medic lingo. "She needs to go home an get some rest. She'll probably be asleep for awhile."

Naruto let out a sigh of relief as he scooped up Sakura's limp form, holding onto her bridal style. Her head thumped lightly against his orange-clad chest as one of her arms dangled from his grip and her pink lips parted to allow for easier breathing. Naruto's azure eyes softened as he gazed on her resting form, before making his way to the hospital entrance. He held her so naturally that Sasuke felt a pang in his chest. Long ago he had realized that the two would grow closer after his defection, but moments like this made him see just _how _close they had grown without him and, for a moment, wonder if it would have been _him _holding Sakura.

"Come on, teme!" Naruto called from over his shoulder, startling Sasuke from his reveries.

"Hn," he followed after the blonde as they made their way out of the hospital. Nurses and patients alike made way for the trio, some of which staring after them in curiosity. Others, usually experienced nurses or patients familiar to the going-ons of the hospital, gave small, sympathetic smiles, already guessing what had happened and the state of the boys' distress. Sasuke took the lead when they reached the glass doors, pushing them open to allow the blonde his escape to the outside.

They almost made it a whole five steps before being interrupted. Again. It seemed to happen very often when Sakura was in the vicinity.

"Naruto-nii!" Konohamaru bound up to them, waving his arms frantically over his head. "Tsundae-obaa- Whoa, what happened to Sakura?"

Naruto huffed out a breath in annoyance.

"She's tired. And just tell the obaa-sama that I'll be there later."

"But Naruto-nii," his hands went to his hips as determination and mischief lit his eyes. "Its about the _chunin exams!_"

Naruto froze, feet pausing mid-step as Sasuke let out an _elegant _snort.

"Can't she just name me a jonin or something already? I mean, after _everything _I've done for the village…" he mumbled under his breath, a rarity for one who was normally so boisterous. He looked down at his dozing teammate. "Just tell her I'll be there lat-"

"She said 'now,' Naruto," Konohamaru deadpanned. "Or else."

Naruto growled in frustration and turned to Sasuke, appearing to be about to pass her over but he hesitated. His grip on Sakura tightened as he waged a mental battle; sure, he trusted Sasuke with his life and would trust him with Sakura as well. But this was _Sasuke. _Sasuke, who Sakura had shed tears over and proclaimed her unyielding love for. It was _Sasuke_ who had held her heart so many years ago, not him. He wasn't sure where her heart lay now but he was hesitant to hand over his job as her protector so easily. What if her feelings for the bastard resurfaced because he carried her home, if he acted as her protector, her hero?

"She said _'now' _in a rather frightening manner," Konohamaru assured the blonde, arms crossed as his head nodded to affirm his words. "Held up her fist and everything."

Naruto groaned, forcing his mental battle to a halt as he nudged Sakura into Sasuke's unexpected arms. Their eyes locked for a moment, Naruto's smoldering blue eyes relaying both a plea and a warning, and Sasuke grip on Sakura tightened in response. Naruto slowly slid his arms out from under their sleeping teammate, cautious, in case Sasuke's hold on her wasn't strong enough, before he backed away.

"Take her home, teme," he ordered and, if it wasn't for the no-nonsense expression on his face, Sasuke would have snorted indignantly. But, as things stood, Naruto had just placed his most important person in his care and he'd be damned if Naruto thought he wouldn't be able to handle it. "Let's go, Konohamaru."

Sasuke watched as they walked off to the Hokage tower and glanced down at the pinkette. Her arms lay limp across her chest and her shoulders were tucked in and angled slightly in his direction. Her cheek rested against the cotton fabric of his shirt, eyebrows barely furrowed from the change in positions as her pink, parted lips allowed steady breaths in and out of her lungs. With one hand he could feel the muscles and tendons beneath the warms skin under her exposed knees while his other wound under her back and rested against the firms muscles on her stomach. She was heavier than her slight frame alluded to, though he supposed that came with the years of muscle growth. He highly doubted there was even an ounce of fat on her.

A sudden thought occurred to him.

'_Where does Sakura live?'_

He wanted to run after Naruto and ask, but the blonde had already disappeared in the direction of Hokage tower, and Sasuke didn't want to risk jostling the sleeping kunoichi in his arms. Instead, he turned to walk back into the hospital. They had to have _some _records on her.

When Sasuke pushed through the glass door, kicking it open with his foot because of his currently-occupied arms, the same nurse as before at the front desk gave his a strange look.

"That's not really what I meant," she mumbled as he approached, looking cool and composed but that particular demeanor failed at the moment. It was hard to look relatively badass when holding a passed-out, bubble-gum-pink haired woman. He paused in front of her, determination slowly fizzling down to a confident awkwardness. The nurse looked up at him, somewhat expectantly.

He cleared his throat. "Where does Sakura live?"

A smile spread across the nurse's face as she gave him an address and sent him on his way.

"Ah, young love," the nurse sighed as the Uchiha and his precious cargo disappeared amongst the crowd.

As Sasuke stood in front of the doorway of the Haruno household, he was faced with yet another challenge.

'_How do I get her inside?'_

Even with all of his ninja skills, it still took _two _hands to hold a sleeping kunoichi, so knocking was out. He couldn't exactly kick this door open. That particular manner of granting oneself entrance was typically frowned upon in most average households. There was a balcony on the second floor. Maybe if he jumped up there and the door was unlocked-

"Sasuke-san?"

The shinobi turned to see Haruno Nozomi, Sakura's mother, standing a few meters away holding a bag of groceries. "What brings you-oh my!"

Her steps quickened towards her limp daughter as Sasuke explained that she had passed out at work. Just as Nozomi began to calm herself, Haruno Ryoku came into view, arms full of shopping bags. Upon seeing Sakura in Sasuke's arms, his face turned an interesting shade of puce and his fingers tightened around the bags of produce in his arms.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY DAUGHTER!"

Sasuke nearly cringed at his crackling, god-of-doom voice. The man's pounding footsteps neared the shinobi and Sasuke swore he could feel his civilian chakra spike dangerously. Nozomi rushed to her husbands side, holding a placating hand on his shoulder as she attempted to calm him with her words.

The cool, competent, and composed ninja felt something akin to nervousness as the man approached. His grip on the sleeping kunoichi tightened unconsciously, a move that did not go past Ryouku's notice. His glare intensified ten-fold.

"TAKE YOUR FILTHY HANDS _OFF _OF MY DAUGHTER!"

Cool, competent, and confused. If Sasuke complied with his request then he would have to put Sakura on the dusty streets of Konoha. If he didn't then he would face her father's wrath. Granted, Sasuke would probably be able to handle a civilian man, but this was Sakura's _father. _She would probably murder him if she harmed the man in any way but-

"Ryoku," the woman's voice behind him cut through Sakura's father's raging. "Calm down."

"But, Nozomi, he-"

"Is helping her," she cut in, voice hard and commanding. Her sharp eyes bore into Ryoku, silencing his attempted protest. "And you will allow him into our house and carry our daughter to bed."

"I can carry her myself-"

"You will carry the groceries to the kitchen," the woman snapped, and Sasuke began to see where Sakura's personality came from. "And then you will _apologize _to Sasuke-san for the misunderstanding, and _thank _him for bringing our daughter home, safe and sound."

Ryoku gaped at his wife as she strode past him to their front door, opening it for the shinobi.

"Here you go, Sasuke-san," she smiled sweetly, sending chills down the Uchiha's spine at the sudden mood swing. "Go up the stairs by the entryway, and her room is going to be on the left side. The door should be open."

The shinobi nodded as he stepped past her, sliding of his shoes in the entrance as she gently took off Sakura's, and he managed to make his way up the stairs. Sakura's house was…cozy. The only two rooms, that he could see anyway, was the kitchen to the right and the living room to the left. The walls surrounding the stairway in the middle were decorated with family pictures, each containing a different image of the woman he now held in his arms. In some of them, Sakura was only a chubby-faced baby with a shock of pink hair and two doting parents. In one, Ryoku was holding up the arms of his laughing daughter who's wobbly looking knees and ankles were just learning to support her weight. Another held a picture of a slightly older Sakura, long pink tresses held away from her face by a familiar hair ribbon and a scraggly looking bun in the back. Her nose was crinkled in laughter as she and her mother stood in the kitchen, both entirely coated in flour.

This was how Sakura grew up, he realized. She had two loving parents and a home that was theirs. Her life was full of joy and warmth, nothing like his own cold and bloody past and, for a moment, he felt a brush of envy. But through those pictures, Sasuke was able to see a side of Sakura that he had only glimpsed at before. Sure, he knew Sakura-the-fan-girl and Sakura-the-medic-nin, hell, even Sakura-who-was-considerate-of-her-orphaned-teammates. But to see simply _Sakura_ was a rarity in itself.

There were so many memories spread along the walls that Sasuke was almost disappointed when he had reached the top step. With a glance to the left, he noted the open door leading into what must have been Sakura's room. On the other side of the hall were two other doors, most likely being her parents room and the bathroom.

He stepped into her bedroom, illuminated by the sun shining through the glass doors of her balcony, and laid her down on her cream-colored bed. He was somewhat surprised at the simplicity of her room. It had all of the basic stuff (a dresser, a desk, night table, a mirror), but he had expected _more. _More knick-knacks, trinkets, accessories. Hell, a bunch more photos on the walls, but her room wasn't chock-full of luxuries like he had expected. There were a couple paintings here and there and a ton of medical texts on the desk, but there was really only one photo.

It was the original picture of team seven, taken nearly five years ago. A wave of nostalgia swept over him. He hadn't seen that picture in _years, _since he had left it face-down in his home before he had defected, as if that action alone would sever his bonds. Sakura had proved that thought wrong only minutes later when she had confronted him, though. It was when their team was almost _normal_, or at least as normal as they could ever be. When their teamwork was near flawless and their trust came easily.

It was strange, how things could change so much.

Slowly, he pulled the rose colored comforter over the kunoichi's sleeping form and removed her hitai-ate, placing it on the bedside table before walking out. He had hoped to make it out the door without meeting up with Sakura's parent again but had no such luck. At the bottom of the stairs stood the glowering form of Haruno Ryoku.

His arms were tightly crossed in front of his chest and he seemed to be chewing on the inside of his cheek. Sasuke could hear the sounds of Nozomi preparing a meal in the kitchen as he reached the final steps, landing him only a couple feet away from Sakura's fuming father.

"Boy," his coarse voice almost made the Uchiha jump. The muscles in his neck bulged as he seemed to be at a mental conflict with himself. A few particularly punctuated chops on a cutting board had him swallowing his pride. "I apologize for the misunderstanding."

His lips clamped shut so tightly that they turned white.

_Chop, CHOP!_

"And thank you for bringing Sakura home safely," he grumbled, eyes momentarily darting to the open doorway of the kitchen.

"Aa," Sasuke gave the man a sharp nod before nervously striding past him to retrieve his shoes and dart out the door.

"Goodbye, Sasuke-san!" came Nozomi's cheerful voice from the kitchen, just as Sasuke was about the close the door. "I hope to see you around soon!"

He let the door shut behind him and took a steadying breath before leaving in the direction of the training grounds. He still had a lot of work to do with chakra control.

* * *

><p>I'm so sorry that this is so late! Since school's starting up soon I kinda figured that I <em>probably <em>should do my summer homework. Unfortunately, I can't promise faster updates :( between school, work, and orchestra I only have the evenings (between 10pm-when I fall asleep) to write fanfiction, and thats only if I don't have too much homework. But, do not fear! I plan to continue writing during the school year and, with any luck, my literature class will give me some inspiration and insight on different writing techniques :)

But, as always, thank you all so much for reviewing and subscribing and favoriting! Honestly, it never ceases to make my day :) I have gotten more reviews for this story than I have for almost all of my other stories combined! Over fifty reviews? Ahhhhhhappy!

And with that I shall stop talking (typing?) so you can get on with your lives! Please review! It makes me smile :)


	5. Chapter 5

.:To Trust Again:.

Chapter 5

"Yo,"

"You're late!" Naruto shouted, voice grating against Sasuke's cool composure.

"Dobe,"

"What was that, teme?" the blonde growled, cobalt eyes sharpening to a glare.

"Hn,"

"_Teme…"_

Kakashi cleared his throat in hopes to prevent a third ninja war, giving his two _precious _students pause. He sighed behind his cloth mask and used one hand to hopefully ward off the inevitable headache that came with being in a ten meter radius of this particular pair of shinobi. "Did you complete your mission?"

The two froze all together.

"I'll take that as a 'no,' then." Naruto's shoulders slumped as Sasuke folded across his chest.

"It wasn't a total failure," the blonde offered weakly, holding up a slumping finger in watered down indignation. Kakashi raised his lone visible eyebrow, prompting the blonde's continuation. "Yusei is one of Sakura's patients at the hospital…." he trailed off before plastering on a sheepish grin. "That's about it."

"So you learned nothing," the silver haired man stated decisively, causing a dejected sigh to drop out of the blonde's mouth.

"He was impaled," the Uchiha added, deciding to leave out the part where they had made the same discovery about Sakura.

"A medical report was not what your mission was for," Kakashi reminded the duo, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. No, he wasn't annoyed that they "failed" the mission. He wasn't too overly concerned about this "_Yusei-san." _Sakura was a big girl, she could handle herself. No, he was more annoyed at the fact that they didn't get their face busted in by Sakura's fist. It was hard not to take some form of sadistic pleasure from two of the worlds most powerful shinobi being sent flying by a petite female with bubblegum hair.

"Come on, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto whined. "Can't we just train already?"

Kakashi strained to put on his most serious expression, stilling the traitorous facial muscles which threatened to pull his concealed lips into a grin.

"Did you forget why you went on that mission on the first place?" he admonished. "You were supposed to make sure that that boy wasn't going to hurt _Sakura-chan."_

Naruto blanched. "B-but-"

"What if he's trying to seduce her? Sakura-chan has grown into quite the beautiful young woman." Kakashi mused. A disgusted twitch presented itself amidst Sasuke's brow as Naruto's mouth dropped open in revulsion, steamy images of the pinkette and the masked jonin flitted through his head.

"H-_hentai_!" he screeched, aiming an accusatory finger at his masked sensei who turned to him innocently.

"Hm? I merely stated the facts that have been flowing through Konoha's gossip pools, it was you who imagined the worst of it." he drawled, causing Naruto to splutter and blush on his own account. "What would Sakura-chan say if she heard you now?"

Sasuke turned away from the blonde idiot, the burning feeling of what he would only allow himself to classify as protectiveness over his only female teammate, cooled only slightly at Naruto's mortification. Since when had Sakura been classified as a beautiful young woman? He could only think of the large forehead and innocent sea-foam eyes which stared up at him, showering him with praises that he didn't need. That image was quickly overshadowed by an evil sneer as she stared down at where she had restrained him to that _goddamned tree!_ As _if _there was a "beautiful young woman" beneath all of those layers of pride, ignorance, and stubbornness.

"T-that's not what I meant," Naruto stuttered as he attempted to compose himself. "But I see what you mean." he added grimly.

"Indeed," the masked nin nodded somberly. "She _would _kill you."

A vein bulged in the blonde's forehead as he strained to cool his naturally-out bursting temper. "That's not what I meant _either," _he took a steadying breath to collect himself before continuing on. "That Yusei-guy could be a total ass. What if he just tried to use Sakura-chan for her for her bo-"

Sasuke _thunked _the blonde idiot over the head with a scowl. As _if _someone would use _Sakura, _of all people, for something like that. She was far too innocent to consent. Unless she _didn't _consent and he just- No. Its not like anyone would go for her like that anyways. She was so _annoying _and not many people got past the forehead thing. '_But she grew into her forehead_,' he thought with a start. Its not like she was some flat-chested tween anymore, either.

"What was that for?" Naruto screeched as Sasuke delved up the last image of Sakura he could think of, past her twelve-year-old self, and grew more and more nervous by the second. She had lost all of her childish roundness and grew into a toned body with curves in all the right places. He remembered the silky smooth feel of her skin when he had carried her home the other day, how creamy and flawless it was. Her training gave her a near impossible grace and boundless confidence. A cold sweat broke across his brow as he made one shocking realization.

'_Some guy really _might _go for her, just for her body_…'

He knew Sakura would probably smack him if he said this to her. The old Sakura would have blushed and fidgeted and passed out at the mere thought of him caring for her well-being. It was amusing how he could turn one of the most boisterous kunoichi in Konoha into one resembling the stuttering Hyuuga heiress. Though, he supposed, those days were over.

"Oi, teme, I'm talking to you!"

"Hn,"

Naruto struggled to maintain his hold on his temper as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

"What I mean is, Sakura's strong in battle and in the hospital, but relationship-wise?"

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully. "You're right, she definitely has a, well, _peculiar _taste in men."

His two students bristled at this, just a bit. But just a bit was enough to cast a smirk over the jonin's features. Naruto finally reached the point where he could no longer contain his frustration.

"_Goddamn it all! _What I fucking _meant _was that we should continue our investigation of this Yusei guy! Can we _please _attempt to stay on subject?"

"Gomen, gomen," Kakashi amended as Naruto diffused a bit. "You two are just too much fun to rile up."

Naruto harrumphed and Sasuke turned away, though their sensei simply waved them off.

"But if you're really going to go back for more information, you can't let Sakura know. She views herself as far too independent for us to be interfering in her personal life." stated the jonin, thinking of the far too many times where their "help" for the petal-haired kunoichi ended in a solid punch.

Grimacing at similar memories, Naruto and Sasuke frowned and wracked their brains for a way to sidestep Sakura's knowledge.

Suddenly, Naruto's eyes lit up with epiphany and a smirk spread across his features.

"_I have a plan,"_

* * *

><p>The sun peered in through her glass balcony door, warming her face uncomfortably until a light sheen of sweat broke over her forehead. Too tired to get up, the kunoichi lay there, simmering in its rays until an angel of mercy closed the blinds. Bleary emerald eyes opened, granting a view of her mothers slender form haloed by the hidden sun, her aging features softened in the dim light. A light smile curved her pink lips as she took a seat on the side of her daughter's bed, rumpling the blankets under her weight. Her polished fingers brushed back her daughters petal-like hair from her sun-warmed face.<p>

"Kaa-san?" Sakura croaked, gazing up at her mother who's gentle eyes were trained on her daughter's face. Her throat felt dry and raw and her mother miraculously procured a glass of water from her bedside table. She took cautious sips, relishing in the feeling of the cool liquid sliding down her scratchy throat until it felt smooth and refreshed. Her mother gently took the glass from her pale hands and set back on the small table besides her bed. "What time is it?"

"Mm," her mother turned her head to glimpse at the clock, her long, rose colored hair fanning out at the sudden motion. "About four."

Sakura mentally sighed, she hadn't been out for too long.

"When Sasuke brought you home yesterday he said that your chakra had been depleted and that you would be asleep for awhile, but I didn't think it would be _this _long." Sakura froze at those words, she had been asleep for _how _long? Panic fluttered in her stomach as she thought about the bustling hospital and the exhausting surgeries which were now burdened on the other medics. That is, until some of her mother's other words resonated through her head.

"_Sasuke?" _she squeaked, earning a playful grin from the older woman. _Sasuke _had brought her home, of all people? She would have though that Naruto would have been the one to do that, especially after his little episode of concern in Yusei's room. But _Sasuke? _The very though blew her mind.

"Mmhmm," her mother nodded, assuring the girl that the once proclaimed 'love of her life' had been her knight in shining armor. "Nearly gave your father a heart attack. I thought he was going to pounce on the poor boy!"

A small smile glinted across her face as she entertained that thought. Cold blooded killer, Uchiha Sasuke pounced on by her civilian father. _Priceless._

Sakura sat up to stretch her arms above her head, noticing that she no longer wore her kunoichi getup. Her mother must have changed her into pajamas while she was out cold. When her mother stood from the bed, the kunoichi swung her feet out from under the blankets and onto the floor, polished wood chilling her tender toes. She pushed herself up, feeling slightly unbalanced as her knees wobbled and her vision blackened for a minute before returning to normal.

Her mother stared at her with a critical eye. "Tsunade-sama gave you the day off of work today." As her daughter opened her mouth in attempted protest, she added on. "Well, she more like _banned _you from the hospital today. She said that if you happened to show up, all staff had been given permission to send you home by force, if need be."

Sakura sighed, raking her hands through her tangled pink locks. Tsunade knew her better than she gave the woman credit for. Her mother offered her a small smile.

"Why don't you go take a nice warm shower and I'll make you something to eat," she suggested, picking up the discarded glass of water and making her way to the door. Sakura sighed in defeat after her mother's retreating figure.

'_Sasuke, huh?'_

It was strange, all of the changes that Sasuke had overcome in these past few months. She shuffled through her dresser drawers for a clean set of clothes before making her way to the bathroom. Thinking back to before Naruto had saved Sasuke, Sakura couldn't help the icy shiver that traveled down her spine. Sasuke had been a borderline sociopath. Scratch that, he _had _been a sociopath. But somehow, Naruto managed to kick him back into reality during that final battle. Those cold, crazed eyes held the heat of fierce determination at that time, a side that only Naruto had been able to bring out. And, by some miraculous effort, Naruto pulled Sasuke's humanity out from the fire of their battle.

A sigh escaped Sakura. It seemed like it had always been Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke and Naruto. Heck, she almost missed the time that it had been Naruto and _Sakura_. At least then she had felt like she was truly part of the team. But it felt as if things had returned to the way they had before Sasuke's defection, not that that was a bad thing entirely. But it felt like her male teammates had their own little world, their own deeper understanding of each other. They were the two orphaned children, jaded by nature and shunned by society.

And she was a medic. While she didn't understand their little world, they didn't truly understand hers either, she supposed. She could speak circles around the two of them, using words that even the Uchiha once-avenger couldn't fathom the meaning. And her pride liked that. Oh, her pride liked that a lot.

But the fact remained that she couldn't understand her boys, even after all these years.

Her head hit the bathroom wall with a solid thud in annoyance as steam began to fill the room and cloud out her brain. She wished things were simpler, that her boys had happier lives but wishing did nothing in the world she lived in. Action did.

Years ago, when she finally understood a mere fraction of what Naruto and Sasuke were going through, she vowed to make them happier. She paid more attention to Naruto, heck, she even went on a date with him once upon a time. She respected him more and praised him where praise was due. He was her best friend.

And Sasuke. She had started to actually _listen _to him, the few times he actually talked at least. She began to see just how deep he was into his revenge and tried to be the sunshine in his life. Oh god, she tried. She stayed by his side whenever he was down, defended him when he was weak, and made her heart encompass all that was Sasuke, both his good and his bad.

But he still _left_.

Sakura stepped under the hot spray of the shower, relishing in the feeling of each individual bead of scalding water pounding on her skin as she remembered how cold that stone bench was when she had been awoken that next morning. Her hair began to feel heavier on her head, nearly touching her shoulder blades. A sardonic smile turned her lips.

'_Things really are going back to how they were before_.'

* * *

><p>Naruto bit the tip of is tongue as his ankles wobbled from their unfamiliar height. Again.<p>

'_Why does Sakura have to wear fucking heels?'_

Even as an elite shinobi and master of the shadow clone and henge jutsus, the idea of shoes with uneven soles befuddled his keen sense of balance. Naruto brushed back an annoying strand of pink hair from his face as he made his way to the hospital entrance.

His only comfort was the bruised and battered Sasuke limping along next to him. For this plan to work, they had to have an actual reason to _go _to the hospital, thus the "bluing skin" around some of the once-avenger's cuts. In all honesty, it was blue sharpie marker, but nobody really needed to know that so long as it looked like the effect of a poisoned kunai. Naruto sufficiently enjoyed himself as he released all of his earlier frustrations on his teammate who had willingly, albeit reluctantly, subjected himself to the beating for the sake of their "mission."

"Sakura-sempai?"

For a brief, chilling moment, Naruto thought that the pink haired medic was somewhere nearby and that she'd catch them and then they would be so fucking _dead._ Then Naruto realized the nurse at the front desk was, in fact, addressing _him._

He breathed a quick sigh of relief and quieted his pounding heart to turn and meet the skeptical glare of the receptionist.

"Yes?"

The nurse's eyebrows arched. "Aren't you supposed to be resting today?"

Naruto froze as his mind quickly flipped through an entire list of excuses as to why they were where they weren't supposed to be (being the students of Kakashi did have _some _merits) under the nurse's scrutinizing gaze.

'_WhatwouldSakuradoWhatwouldSa kurado?'_

An exhausted sigh ripped from Naruto's lungs as he folded his brow into one of intense irritation.

"I wasn't _planning _on coming in but those two _idiots_ managed to beat each other up so badly and somehow the tem-_Sasuke_ managed to get hit with a poisoned kunai! I didn't even know that Naruto _had_ poison kunai!" he pinched the bridge of his nose in a wonderful show of utmost frustration. "But I need to get Sasuke the antidote before that blonde _idiot_ really does manage to kill him."

The nurse's stare bore down on the pinkette-disguised-blonde and Naruto began to sweat under the pressure of it all.

"I'll only be here for a little bit, promise!" he began to wave his hands nervously in front of his chest in show of defense, eliciting a groan of defeat from the nurse.

"_Ten minutes!"_ she declared, "Any longer and Tsunade will have your head!"

Naruto gulped down the mouthful of fear that she had dished out before yanking Sasuke's arm in the direction of Sakura's office. After they were out of earshot Naruto broke out in a panicked whisper. "We don't have much time; we need to spit up, _now."_

Sasuke nodded grimly. "I'll search the records for any information, you go to his room to interrogate him."

They shared a brief moment of understanding before parting in different directions.

Sasuke's first mission was to go to Sakura's office and actually make it _look _like some effort had been put towards restoring his health. His hand upon the cool surface of the knob, he pushed the door open to be greeted with a wafting breeze of air conditioning and fresh parchment. It was rare that Sakura actually did anything clinical in here, he figured, though he knew that she had to have some medical tape in one of the drawers in her mahogany desk. Her office also the place where she would store the information of her most recent patients, conveniently enough.

It was very scarcely decorated, with a cushy tan couch on one end where she would occasionally nap should her schedule ever allow it. On the other end was her desk, covered with scattered notes and pens. Medical texts lined the shelves behind her desk should she ever need to look up any uncommon symptoms or unexplained reactions. Tall, silver filing cabinets stood in a row on the rest of the walls, making her office feel much smaller than what it actually was.

Gingerly, he lowered himself into the cushioned, swiveling chair and rested his hand on the cool surface of the polished wood, feeling something akin to power.

'_So this is what it feels like to hold a high rank in society.'_ he absently pondered to himself. Very few ninja's were actually famous amongst the civilian population, and the ones that were tended to be because they were vicious murderers who enjoyed harming the weak. No, the only other well known shinobi would be the Kages, and even they were only well known in the shinobi villages. But Sakura- Sakura was something else entirely. The first several months after the war was over, she had left the village in attempt to heal some of the injured which could not be cared for by the local medical staff of foreign villages and towns. She taught clinics during those times, training other medics in the art of mending bones and sewing flesh. It felt like a duty of Konohagakure to assist the other villages during that time of peace.

Sasuke barely took note of her absence, so wrapped up in his own struggles as he was. He had been imprisoned, much to Naruto's chagrin, and was subjected to Ibiki's interrogation, though, at that point he was beyond caring and offered up any information willingly. It had all passed as a mindless blur, as his brain attempted to catch up with reality. By the time he was aware of his surroundings, Naruto had already set him up in his apartment complex and Sakura had returned. Not that it had mattered, really. She had rarely come to visit him, and when she did the atmosphere was tense, to say the least. He had thought things had improved between the two of them though, but Sakura had proved to him that there was still a _long _way to go before things could even begin to resemble normalcy.

He sighed as he rifled through the desk drawers, finding a tight roll of gauze in a plastic red first aid kit. After he successfully treated his wounds Sasuke made his way over to the row of silver filing cabinets lining the wall, each with a small paper insert displaying the letters A through Z. He scoured the labels, looking for "O" and made quick work of the lock on the drawer, amazed and disappointed at how easy it was to go through Sakura's professional files. Even in the hospital she was still a shinobi. There should have been a much more vicious form of security.

Holding that thought tight in his mind, Sasuke located the file he was looking for, "Osameru Yusei." It was a relatively thin manila folder, as compared to the novel sized medical reports of Konoha's shinobi though that was to be expected; ninjas had a habit of returning home wounded. All in a days work.

No sooner had he folded open the front cover did Sasuke realize something was wrong. With a rising sense of anticipation, he flipped through the entire folder. His eye barely rested on one page before they moved to the next until he had scoured the entire contents of Yusei's file to no avail.

_Every page was blank_.

Sasuke's eyes bled to swirling black and red, Sharingan seeing what he alone could not. The walls of the room were lined with a near imperceptible coating of chakra; Genjutsu.

'_She's improving,'_ he thought, smirk on his face as he brought one hand up into a seal.

"Kai!" the image around him flickered, as words began to take form on the file in front of him though there was still the buzz of chakra in the air.

_Click._

All of the lights in the tiny office went off, leaving Sasuke in total darkness and unable to read the file in his hands.

_click_

_swoooo-click_

_click_

Sasuke recognized at once the sounds of locks falling into place, trapping him with the suddenly sinking realization that Sakura had probably also rigged this up with an alarm system. _She would know!_

Sharingan glowing, Sasuke sent out a chakra spike, hoping to whatever god was out there that Naruto would get it.

'_Come on, dobe!'_

* * *

><p>Sakura twisted her petal locks up into a fluffy white towel, relishing in the steam contained in her small bathroom. She only wore her red zip up tank top and black shorts, leaving out her med-skirt since she was apparently banned from the hospital today.<p>

Feeling rather melancholy, Sakura left the bathroom and padded down the hall, intending to join her parents for a rather belated breakfast. As she passed by her bedroom, she almost missed the faint buzzing coming from her bedside table. Her heart sped as she recognized the noise; it was the small sensor she had kept in her med skirt for when she was away from the hospital.

_Someone had broken in to her office!_

Tossing the towel on her bed and yanking her damp hair into a small ponytail, she raced down the stairs, pausing only to slip on her boots before she sped out the door.

* * *

><p>Naruto paced his breathing to a steady rhythm, Sakura's sea foam eyes staring straight ahead, making contact with no one as to not draw attention to himself. He made his way past nurses stations, seeing their eyes trail after him as he neared his destination. Several of the hospital staff took note of the familiar form swiftly traversing the halls, many of which paused in their business, suspicion falling upon the retreating figure though none moved to stop him. Nurses would cut off mid conversation upon the sight of him, mouths still parted as both parties would turn and stare. Naruto clenched his sweaty palms, his heart beating twice the rate it would normally in his nervousness. The hospital seemed to freeze wherever he moved, even the bleeps of heart monitors or the <em>drip drip <em>of IVs could not dispel the deafening silence. '_Its eerie, all of the eyes and none of the action_.' Naruto thought as the hair on the back of his neck prickled.

Naruto turned around another corner, familiar door in sight as whispers trailed in his wake.

He slid the door open and stepped inside as many watched from the hall. Inside he was met with another pair of eyes, forest green and wide with shock.

"What're you doing here, angel?" confusion was evident in the gravely voice of Osameru Yusei. "Aren't you supposed to be out until tomorrow?"

Blistering at being called "_angel,"_ Naruto forced a smile as he willed his heart to return to a normal pace.

"I just couldn't stay away from this place, there's just so much to do!" he said, hoping his voice remained steady and that his Sakura impression was spot-on. The look on Yusei's face however, told him that he was rusty. He thought quickly, grasping in the dark for something to cover it. "What, not happy to see your _angel?"_

Yusei's eyebrows quirked at that, suspicion and concern still present on his face. "You know I'm always happy to see _you, _angel, you saved my life. But you still shouldn't be here. Kyoko-san said you had overworked yourself and needed some rest."

"I'm a kunoichi, I can handle it." Naruto went for Sakura's typical line from whenever anyone tells her to take a break. "Don't worry about it!" he forced another smile, though it more took the form as a grimace at the display of absolute concern on his face.

"You sure you're alright, angel?"

"I'm fine," he snapped, then tried to reel himself back in. "How are you feeling?" he hoped he sounded concerned, but he was having a hard time mustering the empathy for this man who's gaze never lessened in intensity.

"I should be asking you that. From what I hear you should really be resting." He began to sit up, arms straining to lift himself from the mattress as he let out a low groan of pain.

"Don't try to stand up, baka!" Naruto shouted at him, though Yusei was already swinging his feet over the side of the bed.

"Don't worry about it, angel. I've been going stir crazy just sitting there. Besides, I need to make sure you get home." his smile made Naruto want to vomit with its sweetness, though he had to admit he was somewhat impressed with Yusei's determination. At the same time it made him hate the man all the more.

"You should be resting!" Naruto fumed, hoping to just sound concerned and not as if he were about to rip Yusei's head off.

"I'm getting released tomorrow, doc. You patched me up pretty good. Have a little faith in your work, eh?" he smirked up at him as he set his bare feet on the ground, shivering at the contact.

"Lay down!"

Yusei stood up, resting his full weight on his feet for the first time since he had been carried in on a stretcher, barely clinging onto life.

"Damn it, listen to me!" Naruto was near shouting now in his frustration when he felt the spike. Sasuke's distinct chakra shot out through the hospital in a sharp jab to Naruto's senses, imperceptible to anyone who was not well trained in the shinobi arts. However, it was a clear distress signal to anyone who was.

'_Damn it, teme! Not a good time!'_

Yusei took a few steps toward him before Naruto blurted "Fine, you win! I'm leaving!" the bolted from the room, popping his head back in momentarily to tell him to lay the fuck down.

Only Naruto's absolute force of willpower kept his henge from slipping as he sprinted down the hall, high-heels lost to the chaos of the hospital. Doctors and nurses alike jumped out of his path, wary of the speeding freight train that was Naruto. His bare feet slapped against the linoleum as he neared Sakura's office, careening past a nurses cart of meds and applesauce. He slid around a corner, nearly succeeding in crashing into a hasty pair of doctors discussing the latest patients. Ignoring their cries of surprise, he finally spotted Sakura's office.

Naruto tried the doorknob but it was locked several times over, some of which with a chakra he recognized as Sakura's. Unfortunately he was not the only one to have sensed Sasuke's distress call.

"_WHO IS CAUSING A RUCKUS IN MY HOSPITAL?"_

Tsunade's voice careened through the hall and Naruto almost lost the henge in his absolute panic. He did the one thing he could think to do, and that was to break in the door. Bracing himself, he jammed his shoulder against it with all of his shinobi strength, though it hardly budged under his full weight and he could hear Tsunade getting even closer. Thinking fast, Naruto made a small scale Rasengan and forced it though the door, past the wall of chakra and broke through to the other side. Nearby doctors and nurses stopped and stared as he tried his weight again against the door, using its newly found weak spot to his advantage, and succeeded.

The room inside was dark, though he immediately spotted the glowing red eyes, wide and glaring at him.

"You didn't have to break in the door," he hissed through grit teeth.

"Yes I did, _run!"_ Naruto grasped Sasuke's arm and yanked the Uchiha out of the rubble and careened down the hall.

"What are you doing, dobe?" Sasuke easily kept pace, wrenching his arm out of Naruto's strangle-hold.

Tsunade's screech of rage from behind them clued him in and propelled the two faster than ever. A gurney being pushed into the emergency room took up most of the path in the hallway. Thinking fast, both shinobi simultaneously jumped, curling themselves into tight balls so as not to accidentally strike one of the doctors pushing the gurney or any of the attached equipment, and landed in a graceful crouch on the other side, pushing off immediately into a dead sprint.

"What did you _do?" _Sasuke spat as they skid around another corner, their intense speed pushing them forward whereas their intentions told them to turn. They ran into a gaggle of nurses, effectively scattering them in their haste to get away from their impending doom.

"_BRATS! GET BACK HERE!"_

They pumped their arms as hard as they could go, calves burning in their strain.

"_Haruno-sempai?" _Naruto had a mini heart attack until he remembered that he was still, in fact, disguised as Sakura. His pink hair was wildly whipping behind him, clothes mused and rumpled from the chase as his bare feet barely touched the ground before pushing off again. He looked like a savage, fear and desperation holding his eyes wide as he pushed his body to the limits of his speed. He and Sasuke were but a blur to the untrained eye of the hospital staff as they finally saw an exit sign.

Relief at the thought of escape coursed through the two shinobi as they darted around the final corner and were immediately brought to a complete stop.

By the extended arm of none other than Sakura Haruno, the real one. Looking feral and furious with her rosy damp hair ruthlessly tied into a ponytail and an angry flush to her cheeks that could rival it. Her emerald eyes lit with rage as they met the identical eyes of her doppelganger, still choking from having his throat practically crushed by her arm. She took in the scene around her, the chaos of the hospital staff, the murderous intent of her shishou who was quickly closing in on them, and the disheveled appearance of her teammates. She sucked in a breath through clenched teeth and both shinobi braced for the explosion.

Sakura was not one to disappoint.

"_BAKA!" _she screeched, her fist soaring at Naruto's face, then Sasuke's, sending them flying down the hall. Naruto lost the henge upon impact, and the two slid to a stop right at the tapping heel of the Godaime Hokage. Apprehensively, Naruto cracked open his eyes only to be met with her irate stare, hands on her hips has her blood red lips pulled back into a snarl. From his peripheral vision he could see Sakura storming in on them, knuckles cracking as her boots stamped on the ground.

Naruto whimpered as the harpies descended.

* * *

><p>"I can't <em>believe <em>you two! Destruction of hospital property, attempting to view classified information, impersonation of a medical professional! These things can get you demoted, or thrown into jail even! What the hell were you two _thinking?" _Sakura screeched at her now black-and-blue teammates. They were now sitting in the chairs in Tsunade's office as flipped through files, shoulders still tense with anger.

"But Sakura-chan-" Naruto began weakly, only to be cut off with the kunoichi's glare. He gulped and slumped down in his chair, shoulders nearly at level with his ears.

"I have a mission for you three," the guilty duo and their fuming teammate all snapped their head in the Hokage's direction.

"Wha-?" Naruto's mouth hung open.

"Now?" asked Sakura, bewildered.

"Yes, now," she snapped. "It's a simple escort and protection mission. One of the prominent families of Amegakure's daughter is here and her family has requested an escort home as well as a bodyguard for an undecided period of time. There have been several threats against her life because of the civil unrest from the war and the remaining effect of the Akatsuki. You will do your best to blend in, which is part of the reason I chose your team in particular."

"What do you mean, shishou?" Sakura inquired, momentarily postponing her anger.

"You'll know soon enough," Tsunade assured, then turned to Naruto and Sasuke. "You two will not be paid for this mission."

"What?" came Naruto's indignant response as Sasuke's eyes sharpened in anger. The Godaime's harsh glare silenced the two.

"Your funding from this mission will go to paying for the hospital equipment you destroyed, the patients you disturbed, and will cover your bail so that I don't have to throw you into prison," she explained tersely.

"Yes ma'am," Naruto whimpered and slouched further in his seat.

"Who is it that we're going to be escorting?" Sakura piped up, choosing to ignore her disgraceful teammates.

"Mizora Hanae, the heir of the Mizora clan. I will have Shizune bring her in now."

As if she were listening by the door, Shizune's head poked into the room, expression calm but timid. Upon seeing Tsunade's nod of approval she opened the door wider and led in a young girl. All three of the shinobi in the chairs sat up straight in attempts to get a better view of the girl and all three pairs of eyes widened at the sight.

The girl appeared to be around seven or eight years old, and wore a short green dress with black athletic leggings and nin-sandals. A tan traveling cloak was wrapped loosely around her narrow shoulders. Her pale face still held some baby fat around her cheeks and her luminous cerulean eyes were fringed by long lashes. They immediately locked onto Sakura's green ones as the kunoichi's mouth dropped open slightly.

The child's hair was almost the exact same shade of pink as her own.

'_So _this _is what Tsunade meant.'_

* * *

><p>I. AM. BACK! And sososososososososooooo sorry I haven't been updating, but this past year has been, for lack of better terms, batshitcrazy. Quick run down? Senior year, went to prom, took three AP tests, won a scholarship from my orchestra that the class voted on (I didn't even know that many people actually knew I was there...), got rejected by a boy who then asked out my best friend since the third grade who turned him down and now he's trying to get with me and my friend isn't speaking to me... So I've been pretty busy! And am not, in any way, shape, or form bitter. Nope.<p>

But I am so absolutely happy that you read this! And I really hope to start updating more frequently but I am also starting my freshman year of university in a month so I will make no gaurentees... I'm gonna be a nurse though! Which _may _have been somewhat inspired by our very own Haruno Sakura... Thank you Kishimoto :)

But anyways, pleasepleasepleasepleaaaaaaa aaaaase review! I will respond to every one if I can! Its also the only proof I really get that people read this so pretty please? Make my day :)

Thank you for reading

-Angel


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